---
title: A boy in Brisbane cuts his toenails into deep curves at the corners.… — Hair, nails and ears · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy in Brisbane cuts his toenails into deep curves at the corners. What could happen? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 77 «Hair, nails and ears» 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 2 · ★ · Hair, nails and ears

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy in Brisbane cuts his toenails into deep curves at the corners. What could happen?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** cut, happen · **To what, where:** toenails, deep curves

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 77 «Hair, nails and ears» 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/77-hair-nails-and-ears/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy in Brisbane cuts his toenails into deep curves at the corners.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:77-hair-nails-and-ears:t2:1
# text = A boy in Brisbane cuts his toenails into deep curves at the corners.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Brisbane	Brisbane	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	cuts	cut	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	toenails	toenail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	into	into	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	curves	curve	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	corners	corner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | present | a boy in Brisbane | boy's toenails |  | deep curves |  | at the corners | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent toenail=Material into curve=Product |

<!-- .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 could happen?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:77-hair-nails-and-ears:t2:2
# text = What could happen?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | could |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His nails would grow back thicker

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:77-hair-nails-and-ears:t2:o1:1
# text = His nails would grow back thicker
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	nails	nail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	thicker	thick	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow back** | would | His nails |  |  |  |  | thick *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His toes would get longer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:77-hair-nails-and-ears:t2:o2:1
# text = His toes would get longer
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	toes	toe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	longer	long	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | would | His toes |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A toenail could grow into the skin

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:77-hair-nails-and-ears:t2:o3:1
# text = A toenail could grow into the skin
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	toenail	toenail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | could | a toenail |  |  |  |  | into the skin *result* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into skin=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His toenails would stop growing for good

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:77-hair-nails-and-ears:t2:o4:1
# text = His toenails would stop growing for good
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	toenails	toenail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | His toenails |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **grow** | gerund | His toenails *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for good | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: 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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- ← previous: [Hair, nails and ears, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/77-hair-nails-and-ears/t1/)
- next →: [Hair, nails and ears, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/77-hair-nails-and-ears/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Hair, nails and ears](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/77-hair-nails-and-ears/)