---
title: Nan learned at school that brain cells never grow back. Why might he… — Your amazing brain and senses · tree and pragmatics
description: Nan learned at school that brain cells never grow back. Why might her book say that? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 2 «Your amazing brain and senses» 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 right.
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Your amazing brain and senses

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nan learned at school that brain cells never grow back. Why might her book say that?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Nan, brain cells, book · **What happens:** learn, not grow back, say · **To what, where:** school, that · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 2 «Your amazing brain and senses» 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/2-your-amazing-brain-and-senses/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Nan learned at school that brain cells never grow back.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:2-your-amazing-brain-and-senses:t8:1
# text = Nan learned at school that brain cells never grow back.
1	Nan	Nan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	learned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obj	_	_
6	brain	brain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	cells	cell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
10	back	back	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | past | Nan |  |  | school |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **grow back** | present | brain cells | school |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location that=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:* Why might her book say that?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:2-your-amazing-brain-and-senses:t8:2
# text = Why might her book say that?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | might | Nan's book | that |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent that=Topic |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Scientists thought so then; newer research changed the picture

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:2-your-amazing-brain-and-senses:t8:o1:1
# text = Scientists thought so then; newer research changed the picture
1	Scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	newer	new	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
7	research	research	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	changed	change	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Scientists |  |  |  | then |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **change** | past | newer research | the picture |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent picture=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her teacher made it up as a joke

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:2-your-amazing-brain-and-senses:t8:o2:1
# text = Her teacher made it up as a joke
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
6	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make up** | past | Her teacher | it |  |  |  | as a joke | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Pivot |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Old books are always right and new ones wrong

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:2-your-amazing-brain-and-senses:t8:o3:1
# text = Old books are always right and new ones wrong
1	Old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Old books |  |  |  |  | always, right *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | new ones |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Brain cells really did stop growing in people back in those days

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:2-your-amazing-brain-and-senses:t8:o4:1
# text = Brain cells really did stop growing in people back in those days
1	Brain	brain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	cells	cell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	really	really	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
9	back	back	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | past · do-support | Brain cells |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **grow back** | gerund | Brain cells *not said here* |  |  |  | day | in people | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in people=Location |

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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: [Your amazing brain and senses, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/2-your-amazing-brain-and-senses/t7/)
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