---
title: A boy picks up his gecko by the tail and the tail drops off. What do… — Birds, reptiles and choosing a pet · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy picks up his gecko by the tail and the tail drops off. What does this show? Test 8 · ★★ 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 right.
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Birds, reptiles and choosing a pet

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy picks up his gecko by the tail and the tail drops off. What does this show?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** boy, tail, this · **What happens:** pick up, drop off, show · **To what, where:** gecko

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy picks up his gecko by the tail and the tail drops off.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t8:1
# text = A boy picks up his gecko by the tail and the tail drops off.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	picks	pick	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	gecko	gecko	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	drops	drop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
14	off	off	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pick up** | present | a boy | boy's gecko |  |  |  | by the tail | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gecko=Topic |
| 2 | **drop off** | present | the tail |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=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:* What does this show?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t8:2
# text = What does this show?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
4	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present · do-support | this |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent what=Recipient |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The gecko was already very ill

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t8:o1:1
# text = The gecko was already very ill
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	gecko	gecko	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	already	already	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the gecko |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The boy pulled too gently

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t8:o2:1
# text = The boy pulled too gently
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	pulled	pull	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** | past | the boy |  |  |  |  | gently *property* | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Many lizards drop their tail to escape when grabbed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t8:o3:1
# text = Many lizards drop their tail to escape when grabbed
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	lizards	lizard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	drop	drop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
9	grabbed	grab	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drop** | present | Many lizards | lizards's tail |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Theme |
| 2 | **escape** | to-infinitive | Many lizards *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **grab** | participle | Many lizards *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Geckos' tails are made of rubber and come off easily

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:64-birds-reptiles-and-choosing-a-pet:t8:o4:1
# text = Geckos' tails are made of rubber and come off easily
1	Geckos	gecko	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	rubber	rubber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
10	off	off	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | Geckos's tails |  |  |  | of rubber | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 2 | **come off** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | easily *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |

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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.

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