---
title: Why would a reef not grow in deep, dark water off a tropical island? — Coral reef builders: polyps, bleaching… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a reef not grow in deep, dark water off a tropical island? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 172 «Coral reef builders: polyps, bleaching, sand from parrotfish and giant clams» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mov
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · Coral reef builders: polyps, bleaching, sand from parrotfi…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a reef not grow in deep, dark water off a tropical island?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **What happens:** not grow · **To what, where:** reef, deep dark water

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 172 «Coral reef builders: polyps, bleaching, sand from parrotfish and giant clams» 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/172-coral-reef-builders-polyps-bleaching-sand-from-parrotfish-and-giant-clams/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:172-coral-reef-builders-polyps-bleaching-sand-from-parrotfish-and-giant-clams:t6:1
# text = Why would a reef not grow in deep, dark water off a tropical island?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	reef	reef	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
10	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	off	off	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	tropical	tropical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **grow** | present |  | a reef |  | deep dark water |  | off a tropical island | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in water=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
Corals hate salt water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:172-coral-reef-builders-polyps-bleaching-sand-from-parrotfish-and-giant-clams:t6:o1:1
# text = Corals hate salt water
1	Corals	coral	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hate	hate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hate** | present | Corals | salt water |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer water=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The water there is too warm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:172-coral-reef-builders-polyps-bleaching-sand-from-parrotfish-and-giant-clams:t6:o2:1
# text = The water there is too warm
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
4	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | the water |  |  | there |  | warm *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fish eat all the corals there, so none are left to grow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:172-coral-reef-builders-polyps-bleaching-sand-from-parrotfish-and-giant-clams:t6:o3:1
# text = Fish eat all the corals there, so none are left to grow
1	Fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	5	det:predet	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	corals	coral	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	11	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | Fish | all corals |  | there |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent coral=Patient |
| 2 | **leave** | present · passive |  | none |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **grow** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The algae inside the polyps need sunlight to make food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:172-coral-reef-builders-polyps-bleaching-sand-from-parrotfish-and-giant-clams:t6:o4:1
# text = The algae inside the polyps need sunlight to make food
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	algae	alga	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	polyps	polyp	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
10	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | the algae inside the polyps | sunlight |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot sunlight=Theme |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive | the algae inside the polyps *not said here* | food |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset food=Product |

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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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- ↑ back to [Coral reef builders: polyps, bleaching, sand from parrotfish and giant clams](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/172-coral-reef-builders-polyps-bleaching-sand-from-parrotfish-and-giant-clams/)