---
title: Why do people keep the "don't touch the chick" rule even though the… — Birds and baby animals · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do people keep the "don't touch the chick" rule even though the smell reason is wrong? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 10 «Birds and baby animals» of the myths 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 10 · ★ · Birds and baby animals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do people keep the "don't touch the chick" rule even though the smell reason is wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** people, smell reason · **What happens:** keep, not touch, be · **To what, where:** touch rule, chick

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This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 10 «Birds and baby animals» of the myths 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/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:10-birds-and-baby-animals:t10:1
# text = Why do people keep the "don't touch the chick" rule even though the smell reason is wrong?
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	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	compound	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	chick	chick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
13	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
14	even	even	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
15	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	smell	smell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present · do-support | people | the touch rule |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rule=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **touch** *in a quote* | infinitive · do-support |  | the chick |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme chick=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present | the smell reason |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Because chicks really are poisonous

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:10-birds-and-baby-animals:t10:o1:1
# text = Because chicks really are poisonous
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	chicks	chick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	really	really	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because birds can read fingerprints

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:10-birds-and-baby-animals:t10:o2:1
# text = Because birds can read fingerprints
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	read	read	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	fingerprints	fingerprint	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | can | birds | fingerprints |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fingerprint=Topic |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Leaving it is still best, because its parents are nearby

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:10-birds-and-baby-animals:t10:o3:1
# text = Leaving it is still best, because its parents are nearby
1	Leaving	leave	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	csubj	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	still	still	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	nearby	nearby	ADV	RB	_	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | gerund |  | it |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | Leaving |  |  |  | still | good *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | its parents |  |  |  |  | nearby *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the law says that a person's smell matters to birds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:10-birds-and-baby-animals:t10:o4:1
# text = Because the law says that a person's smell matters to birds
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	smell	smell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	matters	matter	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the law |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **matter** | present | a person's smell |  |  |  |  | to birds | vn matter-91 «NP V PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus to bird=Experiencer |
| 3 | **smell** |  | a person |  |  |  |  |  | nom smell «cognition intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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: [Birds and baby animals, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/t9/)
- next →: [Birds and baby animals, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/e1/)
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