---
title: What would happen if you touched a porcupine's back? — Wild animals and tall tales · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if you touched a porcupine's back? Test 5 · ★★ of lesson 8 «Wild animals and tall tales» 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 5 · ★★ · Wild animals and tall tales

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if you touched a porcupine's back?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** happen, touch · **To what, where:** back

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★★ of lesson 8 «Wild animals and tall tales» 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/8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales:t5:1
# text = What would happen if you touched a porcupine's back?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	porcupine	porcupine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **touch** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | you | a porcupine's back |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme back=Co-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 -->
Quills could come loose and stick into your hand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales:t5:o1:1
# text = Quills could come loose and stick into your hand
1	Quills	quill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	loose	loose	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	stick	stick	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | could | Quills |  |  |  |  | loose *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **stick** | infinitive | Quills *not said here* |  |  | your hand |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into hand=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would fire its sharp quills at you from far away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales:t5:o2:1
# text = It would fire its sharp quills at you from far away
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	quills	quill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
11	away	away	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would roll away like a ball

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales:t5:o3:1
# text = It would roll away like a ball
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	roll	roll	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roll away** | would | It |  |  |  |  | like a ball; away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, quills are soft like fur

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales:t5:o4:1
# text = Nothing, quills are soft like fur
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	quills	quill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	fur	fur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Nothing quills |  |  |  |  | like fur; soft *property* | tree rules |

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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: [Wild animals and tall tales, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales/t4/)
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