---
title: Why does a compost heap get warm in the middle? — The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, t… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does a compost heap get warm in the middle? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 338 «The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, tomatoes and slugs» 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 7 · ★ · The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, tomatoes and slugs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does a compost heap get warm in the middle?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** do, get · **To what, where:** compost heap

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 338 «The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, tomatoes and slugs» 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/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs:t7:1
# text = Why does a compost heap get warm in the middle?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	compost	compost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	heap	heap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present |  | a compost heap |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heap=Eventuality |
| 2 | **get** | present |  |  |  |  |  | warm *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sun shines down through the heap and warms the middle most

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs:t7:o1:1
# text = The sun shines down through the heap and warms the middle most
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	shines	shine	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	heap	heap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	warms	warm	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shine down** | present | the sun |  |  | the heap |  | down *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through heap=Location |
| 2 | **warm** | present | the sun *not said here* | the middle |  |  |  | most *obl* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent middle=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Billions of tiny living things breaking it down give off heat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs:t7:o2:1
# text = Billions of tiny living things breaking it down give off heat
1	Billions	billion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	living	living	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
6	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	down	down	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
9	give	give	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	off	off	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break down** | gerund | tiny living things *not said here* | it |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 2 | **give off** | infinitive | Billions of tiny living things | heat |  |  |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source heat=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rain soaks in and turns warm in the middle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs:t7:o3:1
# text = Rain soaks in and turns warm in the middle
1	Rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	soaks	soak	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	turns	turn	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
6	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **soak in** | present | Rain |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **turn** | present | Rain *not said here* |  |  | the middle |  | warm *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme in middle=Trajectory |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Worms rub together to make fire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs:t7:o4:1
# text = Worms rub together to make fire
1	Worms	worm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	rub	rub	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	together	together	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
6	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rub** | present | Worms |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive | Worms *not said here* | fire |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset fire=Product |

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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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