---
title: A chameleon on a green leaf turns bright red when another male comes… — Wild animals and tall tales · tree and pragmatics
description: A chameleon on a green leaf turns bright red when another male comes near. Why? Test 8 · ★★ 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales/t8/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/) / [Wild animals and tall tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales/) / t8

# Test 8 · ★★ · Wild animals and tall tales

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A chameleon on a green leaf turns bright red when another male comes near. Why?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** chameleon, male · **What happens:** turn, come

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A chameleon on a green leaf turns bright red when another male comes near.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales:t8:1
# text = A chameleon on a green leaf turns bright red when another male comes near.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chameleon	chameleon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
7	turns	turn	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
10	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	13	mark	_	_
11	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
12	male	male	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
14	near	near	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | present | a chameleon on a green leaf |  |  |  |  | red *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **come** | present | another male |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales:t8:2
# text = Why?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It's much too cold for it to stay green

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales:t8:o1:1
# text = It's much too cold for it to stay green
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
10	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | cold *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **stay** | to-infinitive | it |  |  |  |  | green *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It's signalling to the other chameleon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales:t8:o2:1
# text = It's signalling to the other chameleon
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	signalling	signall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	chameleon	chameleon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **signall** | present · progressive | It |  |  |  |  | to the other chameleon | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has just eaten a bright red berry from the bush

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales:t8:o3:1
# text = It has just eaten a bright red berry from the bush
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	berry	berry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present · perfect · passive |  | It |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It's trying hard to match the colour of the leaf

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales:t8:o4:1
# text = It's trying hard to match the colour of the leaf
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	match	match	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | present · progressive | It |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **match** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | the colour of the leaf |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colour=Patient |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Wild animals and tall tales, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales/t7/)
- next →: [Wild animals and tall tales, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Wild animals and tall tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales/)