---
title: Why is it hard to swat a fly? — Insects and spiders · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is it hard to swat a fly? Test 6 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 6 · Insects and spiders

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is it hard to swat a fly?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be, swat · **To what, where:** fly

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:72-insects-and-spiders:t6:1
# text = Why is it hard to swat a fly?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	expl	_	_
4	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	swat	swat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	fly	fly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **swat** | to-infinitive |  | a fly |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fly=Patient |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It can hear your heartbeat as your hand comes near

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:72-insects-and-spiders:t6:o1:1
# text = It can hear your heartbeat as your hand comes near
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	heartbeat	heartbeat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
10	near	near	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | can | It | your heartbeat |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer heartbeat=Stimulus |
| 2 | **come** | present | your hand |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its compound eyes see movement all around it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:72-insects-and-spiders:t6:o2:1
# text = Its compound eyes see movement all around it
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	compound	compound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	movement	movement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	all	all	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
7	around	around	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | present | Its compound eyes | movement |  | movement |  | all *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer movement=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It feels the heat of your hand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:72-insects-and-spiders:t6:o3:1
# text = It feels the heat of your hand
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	feels	feel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | present | It | the heat of your hand |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heat=Theme |
| 2 | **heat** |  | your hand |  |  |  |  |  | nom heat «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It can smell your hand from far away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:72-insects-and-spiders:t6:o4:1
# text = It can smell your hand from far away
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	smell	smell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
8	away	away	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smell** | can | It | your hand |  |  |  | far *property* | vn see-30.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hand=Stimulus |

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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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