---
title: Why do people brush the tongue? — Brushing your teeth · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do people brush the tongue? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 73 «Brushing your teeth» 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 · ★ · Brushing your teeth

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do people brush the tongue?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** people · **What happens:** brush · **To what, where:** tongue

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 73 «Brushing your teeth» 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/73-brushing-your-teeth/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:73-brushing-your-teeth:t8:1
# text = Why do people brush the tongue?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	brush	brush	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **brush** | present · do-support | people | the tongue |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent tongue=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To remove germs that cause bad breath

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:73-brushing-your-teeth:t8:o1:1
# text = To remove germs that cause bad breath
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	remove	remove	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	germs	germ	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	cause	cause	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remove** | to-infinitive |  | germs |  |  |  |  | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent germ=Theme |
| 2 | **cause** | present | germs | bad breath |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition breath=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To help the taste buds grow back faster

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:73-brushing-your-teeth:t8:o2:1
# text = To help the taste buds grow back faster
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	taste	taste	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	buds	bud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	back	back	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | to-infinitive | the taste buds *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **grow back** | present | the taste buds |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To clean food from between the back teeth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:73-brushing-your-teeth:t8:o3:1
# text = To clean food from between the back teeth
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	clean	clean	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	between	between	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clean** | to-infinitive |  | food |  | the back teeth |  |  | vn clear-10.3 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent food=Theme from tooth=Source |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To make the tongue stronger and longer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:73-brushing-your-teeth:t8:o4:1
# text = To make the tongue stronger and longer
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	stronger	strong	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | the tongue |  |  |  | strong *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset tongue=Product |

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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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- ← previous: [Brushing your teeth, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/t7/)
- next →: [Brushing your teeth, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Brushing your teeth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/73-brushing-your-teeth/)