---
title: «baobabs grow upside down, my teacher said lol» What is right? — Madagascar: chameleons, leaf-tailed ge… · tree and pragmatics
description: «baobabs grow upside down, my teacher said lol» What is right? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 164 «Madagascar: chameleons, leaf-tailed geckos, tenrecs, baobabs and a moth Darwin predicted» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opti
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · Madagascar: chameleons, leaf-tailed geckos, tenrecs, baoba…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«baobabs grow upside down, my teacher said lol» What is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** baobabs, teacher · **What happens:** grow down, say, be · **To what, where:** upside · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 164 «Madagascar: chameleons, leaf-tailed geckos, tenrecs, baobabs and a moth Darwin predicted» of the biology 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/biology/164-madagascar-chameleons-geckos-tenrecs-baobabs-and-darwins-moth/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:164-madagascar-chameleons-geckos-tenrecs-baobabs-and-darwins-moth:t11:1
# text = «baobabs grow upside down, my teacher said lol» What is right?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	baobabs	baobab	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
4	upside	upside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	14	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
12	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow down** *in a quote* | present | baobabs | upside |  |  |  | down *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location upside=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | my teacher |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Yes, roots grow on top

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:164-madagascar-chameleons-geckos-tenrecs-baobabs-and-darwins-moth:t11:o1:1
# text = Yes, roots grow on top
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | roots |  |  | top |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on top=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, they really grow from the sky down to the ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:164-madagascar-chameleons-geckos-tenrecs-baobabs-and-darwins-moth:t11:o2:1
# text = Yes, they really grow from the sky down to the ground
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	really	really	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	down	down	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | they |  |  | the sky |  | to the ground *result*; down *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient from sky=Initial\_State to ground=Result |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They only look upside down because the branches look like roots

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:164-madagascar-chameleons-geckos-tenrecs-baobabs-and-darwins-moth:t11:o3:1
# text = They only look upside down because the branches look like roots
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	upside	upside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
6	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
10	like	like	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look down** | present | They | upside |  |  |  | down *property* | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme upside=Attribute |
| 2 | **look** | present | the branches |  |  |  |  | like roots | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, baobabs have no branches at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:164-madagascar-chameleons-geckos-tenrecs-baobabs-and-darwins-moth:t11:o4:1
# text = No, baobabs have no branches at all
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	baobabs	baobab	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | baobabs | no branches |  | all |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent branch=Patient |

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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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