---
title: What would happen if all the trees near a city became pale again aft… — Natural selection we can watch: moths,… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if all the trees near a city became pale again after the soot was cleaned? Test 5 · ★★ of lesson 279 «Natural selection we can watch: moths, finches, germs and tuskless elephants» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questio
---

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# Test 5 · ★★ · Natural selection we can watch: moths, finches, germs and…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if all the trees near a city became pale again after the soot was cleaned?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** trees · **What happens:** happen, become, clean · **To what, where:** soot

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This is test 5 · ★★ of lesson 279 «Natural selection we can watch: moths, finches, germs and tuskless elephants» 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/279-natural-selection-we-can-watch-moths-finches-germs-and-tuskless-elephants/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:279-natural-selection-we-can-watch-moths-finches-germs-and-tuskless-elephants:t5:1
# text = What would happen if all the trees near a city became pale again after the soot was cleaned?
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	_	11	mark	_	_
5	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	7	det:predet	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
8	near	near	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
12	pale	pale	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	_
13	again	again	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
14	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	soot	soot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	cleaned	clean	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	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 | **become** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | all trees near a city |  |  |  | again | pale *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **clean** | past · passive |  | the soot |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pale moths would be hidden and become common again

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:279-natural-selection-we-can-watch-moths-finches-germs-and-tuskless-elephants:t5:o1:1
# text = Pale moths would be hidden and become common again
1	Pale	pale	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	moths	moth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
8	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
9	again	again	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | would · passive |  | Pale moths |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **become** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | common *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All moths would leave the city

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:279-natural-selection-we-can-watch-moths-finches-germs-and-tuskless-elephants:t5:o2:1
# text = All moths would leave the city
1	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	moths	moth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | would | all moths | the city |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent city=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Birds would stop eating moths

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:279-natural-selection-we-can-watch-moths-finches-germs-and-tuskless-elephants:t5:o3:1
# text = Birds would stop eating moths
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	moths	moth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | Birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **eat** | gerund | Birds *not said here* | moths |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent moth=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dark moths would turn pale overnight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:279-natural-selection-we-can-watch-moths-finches-germs-and-tuskless-elephants:t5:o4:1
# text = Dark moths would turn pale overnight
1	Dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	moths	moth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	pale	pale	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
6	overnight	overnight	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would | Dark moths |  |  |  |  | overnight, pale *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: 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.

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- ↑ back to [Natural selection we can watch: moths, finches, germs and tuskless elephants](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/279-natural-selection-we-can-watch-moths-finches-germs-and-tuskless-elephants/)