--- title: The vet — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The vet», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A vet is a doctor for animals, but unlike a children's doctor, a vet must know about dogs, cats, hamsters, horses, cows and snakes, all with different bodies, and --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / The vet # The vet Lesson 227 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/227-the-vet/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/0/) — A vet is a doctor for animals, but unlike a children's doctor, a vet must know about dogs, cats, hamsters, horses, cows and snakes, all with different bodies, and none of the patients can say where it hurts. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/1/) — So a vet looks, listens and measures: the stethoscope tells about the heart and lungs, the thermometer about fever, the scales about weight, and an X-ray shows what is inside, like the sock a greedy dog swallowed. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/2/) — At the yearly check-up a dog gets an injection, a vaccine that teaches its body to fight dangerous illnesses before it ever meets them. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/3/) — After an operation a cat may come home wearing a big cone round its neck, which looks funny but stops it licking open its stitches. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/5/) — Vaccines given by injection protect pets by helping their bodies learn to fight illnesses. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/6/) — Vets use a stethoscope, just like doctors, to listen to an animal's heart and lungs. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/7/) — Vets often take a pet's temperature with a thermometer under the tail, because it gives an accurate reading. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/8/) — Weight tells a lot about health; losing weight can be the first sign of illness, so even a hamster is weighed on small scales. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/9/) — Horses' teeth keep growing and wearing down, and sharp edges can make eating painful, so vets or horse dentists file them smooth with special tools. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/10/) — Dogs sometimes swallow odd things like socks and toys; an X-ray can show them, and some objects block the gut and need an operation. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/11/) — A cone round a pet's neck after an operation stops it licking its stitches, because licking can open the wound. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/12/) — A brown crust on a pet's teeth is tartar; food and germs build up on teeth, make the gums sore and can make teeth fall out. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/13/) — Farm vets visit farms to check herds of cows, sheep and pigs. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/14/) — When a pet is very old or ill and suffering, a vet can help it die peacefully; this is called putting to sleep. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/15/) — Vets study for about five years or more at university and learn about many different kinds of animal. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/227-the-vet/16/) — A vet checks a pet's eyes, ears, teeth, skin and coat during a check-up, because many illnesses show there first. - ← previous: [Kindness to wild animals](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/226-kindness-to-wild-animals/) - next →: [Cartoon pets and animal myths put right](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/228-cartoon-pets-and-animal-myths-put-right/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)