---
title: A man in the 1800s read in a newspaper about a tree in Madagascar th… — Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that… · tree and pragmatics
description: A man in the 1800s read in a newspaper about a tree in Madagascar that ate people. What was it really? Test 6 of lesson 254 «Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that count, slip and suck» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of eac
---

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# Test 6 · Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that count, slip and suck

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A man in the 1800s read in a newspaper about a tree in Madagascar that ate people. What was it really?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** man, tree · **What happens:** read, eat, be · **To what, where:** newspaper, people, tree

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 254 «Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that count, slip and suck» 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/254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A man in the 1800s read in a newspaper about a tree in Madagascar that ate people.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck:t6:1
# text = A man in the 1800s read in a newspaper about a tree in Madagascar that ate people.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	1800s	1800	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	2	nmod	_	_
6	read	read	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	newspaper	newspaper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	about	about	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	Madagascar	Madagascar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
17	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | past | a man in the 1800s |  |  | a newspaper about a tree in Madagascar |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **eat** | past | a tree in Madagascar | people |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What was it really?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck:t6:2
# text = What was it really?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nsubj	_	_
4	really	really	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A giant pitcher plant

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck:t6:o1:1
# text = A giant pitcher plant
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	pitcher	pitcher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A real tree that is now extinct

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck:t6:o2:1
# text = A real tree that is now extinct
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
7	extinct	extinct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	acl:relcl	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A pet tiger hiding in a tree

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck:t6:o3:1
# text = A pet tiger hiding in a tree
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	pet	pet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	tiger	tiger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	hiding	hide	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | gerund | a pet tiger *not said here* |  |  | a tree |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in tree=Location |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A made-up hoax story

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck:t6:o4:1
# text = A made-up hoax story
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
2	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
5	hoax	hoax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make up** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |

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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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