---
title: «dirt's just dirt, mate» What would a soil scientist say? — Bees, worms and soil: the hidden helpe… · tree and pragmatics
description: «dirt's just dirt, mate» What would a soil scientist say? Test 10 · ★★★ of lesson 291 «Bees, worms and soil: the hidden helpers of our food» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 10 · ★★★ · Bees, worms and soil: the hidden helpers of our food

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«dirt's just dirt, mate» What would a soil scientist say?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** soil scientist · **What happens:** say · **To what, where:** dirt · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★★★ of lesson 291 «Bees, worms and soil: the hidden helpers of our food» 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/291-bees-worms-and-soil-the-hidden-helpers-of-our-food/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:291-bees-worms-and-soil-the-hidden-helpers-of-our-food:t10:1
# text = «dirt's just dirt, mate» What would a soil scientist say?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	dirt	dirt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	dirt	dirt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
9	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	obj	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	scientist	scientist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | would | a soil scientist | dirt's dirt and mate |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
Only worms live in soil, and nothing smaller than a worm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:291-bees-worms-and-soil-the-hidden-helpers-of-our-food:t10:o1:1
# text = Only worms live in soil, and nothing smaller than a worm
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	worms	worm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	parataxis	_	_
9	smaller	small	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	amod	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	worm	worm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | worms |  |  | soil |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in soil=Location |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A handful holds more living things than there are people on Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:291-bees-worms-and-soil-the-hidden-helpers-of-our-food:t10:o2:1
# text = A handful holds more living things than there are people on Earth
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	handful	handful	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	holds	hold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
5	living	living	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	9	expl	_	_
9	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
10	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | present | a handful | more living things |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Theme |
| 2 | **does** | present | people on Earth |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Soil has no life in it at all during the winter months

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:291-bees-worms-and-soil-the-hidden-helpers-of-our-food:t10:o3:1
# text = Soil has no life in it at all during the winter months
1	Soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nmod	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	nmod	_	_
9	during	during	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Soil | no life |  | life | month | at all | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Soil is crushed stone and nothing else

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:291-bees-worms-and-soil-the-hidden-helpers-of-our-food:t10:o4:1
# text = Soil is crushed stone and nothing else
1	Soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	crushed	crush	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	amod	_	_
4	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	conj	_	_
7	else	else	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **crush** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | present | Soil | crushed stone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- 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: [Bees, worms and soil: the hidden helpe…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/291-bees-worms-and-soil-the-hidden-helpers-of-our-food/t9/)
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- ↑ back to [Bees, worms and soil: the hidden helpers of our food](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/291-bees-worms-and-soil-the-hidden-helpers-of-our-food/)