---
title: Mia's friend counts a spider's legs: eight. Why does that settle it? — One counterexample is enough · tree and pragmatics
description: Mia's friend counts a spider's legs: eight. Why does that settle it? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 187 «One counterexample is enough» of the world 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 · ★ · One counterexample is enough

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mia's friend counts a spider's legs: eight. Why does that settle it?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** friend, that · **What happens:** count, settle · **To what, where:** legs, friend

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 187 «One counterexample is enough» of the world 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/world/187-one-counterexample-is-enough/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Mia's friend counts a spider's legs: eight.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:187-one-counterexample-is-enough:t8:1
# text = Mia's friend counts a spider's legs: eight.
1	Mia	Mia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	counts	count	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	spider	spider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
10	eight	eight	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **count** | present | Mia's friend | a spider's legs |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=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 does that settle it?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:187-one-counterexample-is-enough:t8:2
# text = Why does that settle it?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
4	settle	settle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **settle** | present · do-support | that | friend |  |  |  |  | vn odge-46-1 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme it=Location |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Insects always have 6 legs, so a spider isn't one

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:187-one-counterexample-is-enough:t8:o1:1
# text = Insects always have 6 legs, so a spider isn't one
1	Insects	insect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	6	6	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	spider	spider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Insects | 6 legs |  |  |  | always *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **is a** | present | a spider | one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Legs can't tell you anything

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:187-one-counterexample-is-enough:t8:o2:1
# text = Legs can't tell you anything
1	Legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | can | Legs | anything | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient anything=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Some insects have 8 legs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:187-one-counterexample-is-enough:t8:o3:1
# text = Some insects have 8 legs
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	det	_	_
2	insects	insect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	8	8	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | some insects | 8 legs |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Spiders lose legs as they grow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:187-one-counterexample-is-enough:t8:o4:1
# text = Spiders lose legs as they grow
1	Spiders	spider	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lose	lose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | present | Spiders | legs |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Eventuality |
| 2 | **grow** | present | Spiders *= spider* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [One counterexample is enough, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/187-one-counterexample-is-enough/t7/)
- next →: [One counterexample is enough, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/187-one-counterexample-is-enough/t9/)
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