---
title: Why do ears not need cleaning inside? — Hair, nails and ears · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do ears not need cleaning inside? Test 4 · ★ 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Hair, nails and ears

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do ears not need cleaning inside?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** ears · **What happens:** not need · **To what, where:** cleaning

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:77-hair-nails-and-ears:t4:1
# text = Why do ears not need cleaning inside?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	cleaning	cleaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	inside	inside	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | present · do-support | ears | cleaning |  |  |  | inside *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot cleaning=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ears are cleaned when you sneeze

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:77-hair-nails-and-ears:t4:o1:1
# text = Ears are cleaned when you sneeze
1	Ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	cleaned	clean	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	sneeze	sneeze	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clean** | present · passive |  | Ears |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **sneeze** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Wax moves out of the ear by itself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:77-hair-nails-and-ears:t4:o2:1
# text = Wax moves out of the ear by itself
1	Wax	Wax	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	moves	move	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	out	out	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move out** | present | Wax | the ear |  |  |  | by ear | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent ear=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ears never make any wax

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:77-hair-nails-and-ears:t4:o3:1
# text = Ears never make any wax
1	Ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	wax	wax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **make** | present | Ears | any wax |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset wax=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Wax is cleaned away from inside by the brain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:77-hair-nails-and-ears:t4:o4:1
# text = Wax is cleaned away from inside by the brain
1	Wax	wax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	cleaned	clean	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	inside	inside	ADV	RB	_	3	obl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	brain	brain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clean away** | present · passive | the brain | Wax |  |  |  | away *property* | vn clear-10.3 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent subject=Theme from inside=Source |

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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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/77-hair-nails-and-ears/t3/)
- next →: [Hair, nails and ears, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/77-hair-nails-and-ears/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Hair, nails and ears](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/77-hair-nails-and-ears/)