---
title: Do we owe the air we breathe partly to bacteria? — The microscopic world: bacteria, good… · tree and pragmatics
description: Do we owe the air we breathe partly to bacteria? Test 10 of lesson 257 «The microscopic world: bacteria, good and bad» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/257-the-microscopic-world-bacteria-good-and-bad/t10/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [The microscopic world: bacteria, good…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/257-the-microscopic-world-bacteria-good-and-bad/) / t10

# Test 10 · The microscopic world: bacteria, good and bad

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Do we owe the air we breathe partly to bacteria?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** we · **What happens:** owe, breathe · **To what, where:** air, bacteria

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 257 «The microscopic world: bacteria, good and bad» 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/257-the-microscopic-world-bacteria-good-and-bad/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:257-the-microscopic-world-bacteria-good-and-bad:t10:1
# text = Do we owe the air we breathe partly to bacteria?
1	Do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	owe	owe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	breathe	breathe	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	partly	partly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **owe** | present · do-support | we | the air |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent air=Theme |
| 2 | **breathe** | present | we | bacteria |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bacterium=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
No, oxygen was always in the air, right from the very start of the Earth

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:257-the-microscopic-world-bacteria-good-and-bad:t10:o1:1
# text = No, oxygen was always in the air, right from the very start of the Earth
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	right	right	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	very	very	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	start	start	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | oxygen |  |  | the air and the start of the Earth |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **start** |  |  | the Earth |  |  |  |  | nom start «event transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, volcanoes made all of it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:257-the-microscopic-world-bacteria-good-and-bad:t10:o2:1
# text = No, volcanoes made all of it
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	volcanoes	volcano	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | volcanoes | all |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset all=Product |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, cyanobacteria made the first oxygen billions of years ago

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:257-the-microscopic-world-bacteria-good-and-bad:t10:o3:1
# text = Yes, cyanobacteria made the first oxygen billions of years ago
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	cyanobacteria	cyanobacteria	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	amod	_	_
7	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	billions	billion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
11	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | cyanobacteria | the first oxygen billions of years |  |  |  | ago *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset billion=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but only the bacteria in our gut

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:257-the-microscopic-world-bacteria-good-and-bad:t10:o4:1
# text = Yes, but only the bacteria in our gut
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	gut	gut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

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

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [The microscopic world: bacteria, good…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/257-the-microscopic-world-bacteria-good-and-bad/t9/)
- next →: [The microscopic world: bacteria, good…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/257-the-microscopic-world-bacteria-good-and-bad/t11/)
- ↑ back to [The microscopic world: bacteria, good and bad](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/257-the-microscopic-world-bacteria-good-and-bad/)