---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — The skeleton and muscles · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the action of a muscle? Exam question 3 of lesson 31 «The skeleton and muscles» 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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# Exam question 3 · The skeleton and muscles

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the action of a muscle?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** muscle · **What happens:** follow, characteris, act · **To what, where:** action

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 31 «The skeleton and muscles» of the world course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/31-skeleton-and-muscles/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:31-skeleton-and-muscles:e3:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the action of a muscle?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	muscle	muscle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the action of a muscle |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **act** |  | a muscle |  |  |  |  |  | nom action «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A muscle neither pushes nor pulls

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:31-skeleton-and-muscles:e3:o1:1
# text = A muscle neither pushes nor pulls
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	muscle	muscle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	neither	neither	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	pushes	push	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	6	cc	_	_
6	pulls	pull	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push** | present | a muscle neither |  |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **pull** | present | a muscle neither *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A muscle is able only to pull, never to push

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:31-skeleton-and-muscles:e3:o2:1
# text = A muscle is able only to pull, never to push
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	muscle	muscle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	push	push	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a muscle |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **pull** | to-infinitive | a muscle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **push** | to-infinitive | a muscle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A muscle is able only to push, never to pull

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:31-skeleton-and-muscles:e3:o3:1
# text = A muscle is able only to push, never to pull
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	muscle	muscle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	push	push	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a muscle |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **push** | to-infinitive | a muscle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **pull** | to-infinitive | a muscle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A muscle is able both to push and to pull

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:31-skeleton-and-muscles:e3:o4:1
# text = A muscle is able both to push and to pull
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	muscle	muscle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc:preconj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	push	push	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a muscle |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **push** | to-infinitive | a muscle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **pull** | to-infinitive | a muscle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- 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 -->

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- ← previous: [The skeleton and muscles, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/31-skeleton-and-muscles/e2/)
- next →: [The skeleton and muscles, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/31-skeleton-and-muscles/e4/)
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