---
title: Identify the principal reason for which a fallen tree disappears wit… — The Amazon forest floor: leafcutters,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which a fallen tree disappears within a few years upon the floor of the rainforest. Exam question 2 of lesson 157 «The Amazon forest floor: leafcutters, army ants, tapirs, jaguars and the giant spider» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the depende
---

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# Exam question 2 · The Amazon forest floor: leafcutters, army ants, tapirs, j…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which a fallen tree disappears within a few years upon the floor of the rainforest.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, fallen tree · **What happens:** identify, fall, disappear · **To what, where:** principal reason

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 157 «The Amazon forest floor: leafcutters, army ants, tapirs, jaguars and the giant spider» of the biology 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/biology/157-the-amazon-forest-floor/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:157-the-amazon-forest-floor:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which a fallen tree disappears within a few years upon the floor of the rainforest.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	disappears	disappear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl	_	_
11	within	within	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	rainforest	rainforest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **fall** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **disappear** | present | a fallen tree |  |  |  | year | for the principal reason; upon the floor of the rainforest | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «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 -->
Decomposition by fungi, termites and bacteria proceeds rapidly in heat and moisture

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:157-the-amazon-forest-floor:e2:o1:1
# text = Decomposition by fungi, termites and bacteria proceeds rapidly in heat and moisture
1	Decomposition	decomposition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
2	by	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	fungi	fungus	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	termites	termite	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
8	proceeds	proceed	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	rapidly	rapidly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	moisture	moisture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **proceed** | present | Decomposition by fungi and termites and bacteria |  |  | heat and moisture |  | rapidly *property* | vn begin-55.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **decompose** |  | fungi and termites and bacteria |  |  |  |  |  | nom decomposition «cognition transitive»: by=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Submersion of the material beneath the soil by its own weight over a great many years

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:157-the-amazon-forest-floor:e2:o2:1
# text = Submersion of the material beneath the soil by its own weight over a great many years
1	Submersion	Submersion	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	material	material	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
12	over	over	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
15	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Consumption by jaguars

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:157-the-amazon-forest-floor:e2:o3:1
# text = Consumption by jaguars
1	Consumption	consumption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	by	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	jaguars	jaguar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consume** |  | jaguars |  |  |  |  |  | nom consumption «act transitive»: by=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Removal by large mammals for nesting material

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:157-the-amazon-forest-floor:e2:o4:1
# text = Removal by large mammals for nesting material
1	Removal	removal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	by	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	mammals	mammal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
5	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	nesting	nest	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
7	material	material	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nest** | gerund | large mammals *not said here* | material |  |  |  |  | vn berry-13.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent material=Location |
| 2 | **remove** |  | large mammals |  |  |  |  |  | nom removal «act transitive»: by=agent |

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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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