---
title: What would happen if a scientist found a beam with rings in an old h… — Plants deeper: the oldest, tallest and… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a scientist found a beam with rings in an old house and matched the pattern to dated trees? Test 6 of lesson 253 «Plants deeper: the oldest, tallest and strangest trees» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and o
---

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# Test 6 · Plants deeper: the oldest, tallest and strangest trees

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a scientist found a beam with rings in an old house and matched the pattern to dated trees?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** scientist · **What happens:** happen, find, match · **To what, where:** beam, pattern

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 253 «Plants deeper: the oldest, tallest and strangest trees» 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/253-plants-deeper-the-oldest-tallest-and-strangest-trees/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:253-plants-deeper-the-oldest-tallest-and-strangest-trees:t6:1
# text = What would happen if a scientist found a beam with rings in an old house and matched the pattern to dated trees?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	scientist	scientist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	beam	beam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	rings	ring	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	matched	match	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	pattern	pattern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	dated	dated	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **find** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a scientist | a beam |  |  |  | with rings in a old house | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent beam=Topic |
| 3 | **match** | past | a scientist *not said here* | the pattern |  |  |  | to dated trees | vn amalgamate-22.2-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent pattern=Patient to tree=Co-Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
She could tell roughly when the tree was cut

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:253-plants-deeper-the-oldest-tallest-and-strangest-trees:t6:o1:1
# text = She could tell roughly when the tree was cut
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	roughly	roughly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	9	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | She |  |  |  |  | roughly *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **cut** | past · passive |  | the tree |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She could tell nothing at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:253-plants-deeper-the-oldest-tallest-and-strangest-trees:t6:o2:1
# text = She could tell nothing at all
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | She | nothing |  | all |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent nothing=Recipient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She could tell what colour the house was

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:253-plants-deeper-the-oldest-tallest-and-strangest-trees:t6:o3:1
# text = She could tell what colour the house was
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	5	det	_	_
5	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | could | She |  |  |  |  | tell *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She could tell exactly who had built the house and when

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:253-plants-deeper-the-oldest-tallest-and-strangest-trees:t6:o4:1
# text = She could tell exactly who had built the house and when
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	built	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | She |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **build** | past · perfect · passive |  | the house |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary house=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.

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