---
title: «how can the biggest living thing be a fungus if I can't even see it… — Plants deeper: do trees talk? Fungi, w… · tree and pragmatics
description: «how can the biggest living thing be a fungus if I can't even see it?» What is the answer? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 252 «Plants deeper: do trees talk? Fungi, warning smells and giant clones» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of e
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · Plants deeper: do trees talk? Fungi, warning smells and gi…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«how can the biggest living thing be a fungus if I can't even see it?» What is the answer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** biggest living thing, I, answer · **What happens:** be, not see · **To what, where:** fungus, thing

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This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 252 «Plants deeper: do trees talk? Fungi, warning smells and giant clones» 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/252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «how can the biggest living thing be a fungus if I can't even see it?»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones:t9:1
# text = «how can the biggest living thing be a fungus if I can't even see it?»
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	biggest	big	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
6	living	living	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	cop	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	fungus	fungus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
13	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	even	even	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | can | the biggest living thing | a fungus |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **see** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | can | I | thing |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is the answer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones:t9:2
# text = What is the answer?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the answer |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is see-through like glass

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones:t9:o1:1
# text = It is see-through like glass
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	see	see	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	through	thorough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | like glass; thorough *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It only comes out on dark nights when nobody is about

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones:t9:o2:1
# text = It only comes out on dark nights when nobody is about
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
9	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	11	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	about	about	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come out** | present | It |  |  |  | night |  | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | present | nobody |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Most of it is threads hidden under the ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones:t9:o3:1
# text = Most of it is threads hidden under the ground
1	Most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nmod	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	threads	thread	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	under	under	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Most of it | threads |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **hide** | participle |  | threads *not said here* |  | the ground |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent under ground=Location |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It moves far too fast for anyone to see it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones:t9:o4:1
# text = It moves far too fast for anyone to see it
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	moves	move	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | present | It |  |  |  |  | for anyone; fast *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | it |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=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.

<!-- /div -->

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