---
title: Why could an insect not grow as big as a dog today? — Insects and spiders · tree and pragmatics
description: Why could an insect not grow as big as a dog today? Test 3 of lesson 72 «Insects and spiders» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/72-insects-and-spiders/t3/)

<!-- 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/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/) / [Insects and spiders](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/72-insects-and-spiders/) / t3

# Test 3 · Insects and spiders

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why could an insect not grow as big as a dog today?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** insect · **What happens:** not grow

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 of lesson 72 «Insects and spiders» 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/72-insects-and-spiders/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:72-insects-and-spiders:t3:1
# text = Why could an insect not grow as big as a dog today?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	insect	insect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	as	as	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
9	as	as	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **grow** | could | a insect |  |  |  |  | big *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «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.

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its breathing tubes could not bring enough air to a body so big

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:72-insects-and-spiders:t3:o1:1
# text = Its breathing tubes could not bring enough air to a body so big
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	breathing	breathing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	tubes	tube	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	enough	enough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **bring** | could | Its breathing tubes | enough air |  | a body |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent air=Theme to body=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its eyes would not work in a big body

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:72-insects-and-spiders:t3:o2:1
# text = Its eyes would not work in a big body
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **work** | would | Its eyes |  |  |  |  | in a big body | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in body=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be too heavy to fly to flowers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:72-insects-and-spiders:t3:o3:1
# text = It would be too heavy to fly to flowers
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | It |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fly** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to flowers *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to flower=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its antennae would be too long to carry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:72-insects-and-spiders:t3:o4:1
# text = Its antennae would be too long to carry
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	antennae	antennae	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | Its antennae |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **carry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Its antennae *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- 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: [Insects and spiders, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/72-insects-and-spiders/t2/)
- next →: [Insects and spiders, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/72-insects-and-spiders/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Insects and spiders](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/72-insects-and-spiders/)