---
title: A man sells puppies cheaply from the back of his van. Why is this a… — Birds, reptiles and choosing a pet · tree and pragmatics
description: A man sells puppies cheaply from the back of his van. Why is this a risky place to buy a pet? Test 7 · ★★ of lesson 64 «Birds, reptiles and choosing a pet» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was r
---

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# Test 7 · ★★ · Birds, reptiles and choosing a pet

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A man sells puppies cheaply from the back of his van. Why is this a risky place to buy a pet?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** man, this · **What happens:** sell, be, buy · **To what, where:** puppies, back, risky place, pet

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★★ of lesson 64 «Birds, reptiles and choosing a pet» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/everyday/64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A man sells puppies cheaply from the back of his van.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t7:1
# text = A man sells puppies cheaply from the back of his van.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sells	sell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	puppies	puppy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	cheaply	cheaply	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	van	van	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sell** | present | a man | puppies |  | the back of man's van |  | cheaply *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent puppy=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why is this a risky place to buy a pet?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t7:2
# text = Why is this a risky place to buy a pet?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	risky	risky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	buy	buy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	pet	pet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | this | a risky place |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **buy** | to-infinitive |  | a pet |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pet=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Puppies from vans are always too big

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t7:o1:1
# text = Puppies from vans are always too big
1	Puppies	puppy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
2	from	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	vans	van	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	7	advmod	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Puppies from vans |  |  |  |  | always, big *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cheap puppies never grow up properly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t7:o2:1
# text = Cheap puppies never grow up properly
1	Cheap	cheap	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	puppies	puppy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	properly	properly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **grow up** | present | Cheap puppies |  |  |  |  | properly *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Vans are where rescue centres keep pets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t7:o3:1
# text = Vans are where rescue centres keep pets
1	Vans	van	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	6	advmod	_	_
4	rescue	rescue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	centres	centre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	pets	pet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Vans |  |  |  |  | keep *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pets from bad sellers are often ill

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t7:o4:1
# text = Pets from bad sellers are often ill
1	Pets	pet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
2	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sellers	seller	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	often	often	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Pets from bad sellers |  |  |  |  | ill, often *property* | tree rules |

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Birds, reptiles and choosing a pet, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet/t6/)
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