---
title: Why might birches be among the first trees to grow on open land? — Park trees: telling oaks, maples, ches… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might birches be among the first trees to grow on open land? Test 10 of lesson 339 «Park trees: telling oaks, maples, chestnuts, birches, limes and willows apart» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's ch
---

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# Test 10 · Park trees: telling oaks, maples, chestnuts, birches, lime…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might birches be among the first trees to grow on open land?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** birches · **What happens:** be, grow · **To what, where:** open land

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 339 «Park trees: telling oaks, maples, chestnuts, birches, limes and willows apart» 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/339-park-trees-telling-oaks-maples-chestnuts-birches-limes-and-willows-apart/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:339-park-trees-telling-oaks-maples-chestnuts-birches-limes-and-willows-apart:t10:1
# text = Why might birches be among the first trees to grow on open land?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	1	aux	_	_
3	birches	birch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
5	among	among	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	amod	_	_
8	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | infinitive | birches |  |  |  |  | among the first trees | tree rules |
| 2 | **grow** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | open land |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on land=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
They grow from acorns buried by jays

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:339-park-trees-telling-oaks-maples-chestnuts-birches-limes-and-willows-apart:t10:o1:1
# text = They grow from acorns buried by jays
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	acorns	acorn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
5	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	jays	jay	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | They |  |  |  |  | from acorns | vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.product V PP.patient»: agent=Product from acorn=Patient |
| 2 | **bury** | participle |  | acorns *not said here* |  |  |  | by jays | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent by jay=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People plant every birch by hand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:339-park-trees-telling-oaks-maples-chestnuts-birches-limes-and-willows-apart:t10:o2:1
# text = People plant every birch by hand
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	plant	plant	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **plant** | present | People | every birch |  |  |  | by hand | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent birch=Theme by hand=Destination |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their light seeds spread far and they grow well in the open

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:339-park-trees-telling-oaks-maples-chestnuts-birches-limes-and-willows-apart:t10:o3:1
# text = Their light seeds spread far and they grow well in the open
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	spread	spread	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
9	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | present | Their light seeds |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **grow** | present | seeds *= seed* |  |  | the open |  | well *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in open=Location |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They can only grow under other trees

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:339-park-trees-telling-oaks-maples-chestnuts-birches-limes-and-willows-apart:t10:o4:1
# text = They can only grow under other trees
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	under	under	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | can | They |  |  | other trees |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under tree=Location |

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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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- next →: [Park trees: telling oaks, maples, ches…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/339-park-trees-telling-oaks-maples-chestnuts-birches-limes-and-willows-apart/t11/)
- ↑ back to [Park trees: telling oaks, maples, chestnuts, birches, limes and willows apart](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/339-park-trees-telling-oaks-maples-chestnuts-birches-limes-and-willows-apart/)