---
title: Why do chilli plants not mind birds eating them but put off mice? — Plants we eat: roots, stems, leaves, f… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do chilli plants not mind birds eating them but put off mice? Test 7 · ★★ of lesson 288 «Plants we eat: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds» 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 w
---

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# Test 7 · ★★ · Plants we eat: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and s…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do chilli plants not mind birds eating them but put off mice?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** chilli plants · **What happens:** eat, put off · **To what, where:** birds, mice

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★★ of lesson 288 «Plants we eat: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds» 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/288-plants-we-eat-roots-stems-leaves-flowers-fruits-and-seeds/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:288-plants-we-eat-roots-stems-leaves-flowers-fruits-and-seeds:t7:1
# text = Why do chilli plants not mind birds eating them but put off mice?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	chilli	chilli	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
6	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
12	off	off	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present · do-support | chilli plants | birds *= bird* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 2 | **put off** | infinitive | chilli plants *not said here* |  | mice |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent mouse=Goal |

<!-- .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 -->
Birds do not feel the burn and spread the seeds whole

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:288-plants-we-eat-roots-stems-leaves-flowers-fruits-and-seeds:t7:o1:1
# text = Birds do not feel the burn and spread the seeds whole
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	burn	burn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	spread	spread	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **feel** | present · do-support | Birds | the burn |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent burn=Theme |
| 2 | **spread** | infinitive | Birds *not said here* | the seeds |  |  |  | whole *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location seed=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Birds eat only the leaves

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:288-plants-we-eat-roots-stems-leaves-flowers-fruits-and-seeds:t7:o2:1
# text = Birds eat only the leaves
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | Birds | the leaves |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Birds are allergic to mice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:288-plants-we-eat-roots-stems-leaves-flowers-fruits-and-seeds:t7:o3:1
# text = Birds are allergic to mice
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	allergic	allergic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mice spread seeds much better than birds, so chillies want mice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:288-plants-we-eat-roots-stems-leaves-flowers-fruits-and-seeds:t7:o4:1
# text = Mice spread seeds much better than birds, so chillies want mice
1	Mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	spread	spread	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	chillies	chilli	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
12	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | present | Mice | seeds |  |  |  | good *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location seed=Theme |
| 2 | **want** | present | chillies | mice |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot mouse=Theme |

<!-- 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 -->

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- ← previous: [Plants we eat: roots, stems, leaves, f…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/288-plants-we-eat-roots-stems-leaves-flowers-fruits-and-seeds/t6/)
- next →: [Plants we eat: roots, stems, leaves, f…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/288-plants-we-eat-roots-stems-leaves-flowers-fruits-and-seeds/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Plants we eat: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/288-plants-we-eat-roots-stems-leaves-flowers-fruits-and-seeds/)