---
title: A farmer finds a cob with lots of gaps where kernels are missing. Wh… — Rice, maize and potatoes: the plants t… · tree and pragmatics
description: A farmer finds a cob with lots of gaps where kernels are missing. What does it tell him? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 345 «Rice, maize and potatoes: the plants that feed the world» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mov
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Rice, maize and potatoes: the plants that feed the world

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A farmer finds a cob with lots of gaps where kernels are missing. What does it tell him?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** farmer, kernels · **What happens:** find, be, tell · **To what, where:** cob, him · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 345 «Rice, maize and potatoes: the plants that feed the world» 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/345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A farmer finds a cob with lots of gaps where kernels are missing.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world:t3:1
# text = A farmer finds a cob with lots of gaps where kernels are missing.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	finds	find	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	cob	cob	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	lots	lot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	gaps	gap	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
10	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	13	advmod	_	_
11	kernels	kernel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
12	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	missing	missing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | present | a farmer | a cob |  |  |  | with lots of gaps | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cob=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | present | kernels |  |  |  |  | missing *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What does it tell him?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world:t3:2
# text = What does it tell him?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | farmer |  | him *= he* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cob was too cold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world:t3:o1:1
# text = The cob was too cold
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cob	cob	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the cob |  |  |  |  | cold *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cob grew too fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world:t3:o2:1
# text = The cob grew too fast
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cob	cob	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | the cob |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mice stole the kernels at night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world:t3:o3:1
# text = Mice stole the kernels at night
1	Mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stole	steal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	kernels	kernel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **steal** | past | Mice | the kernels |  |  | night |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location kernel=Theme |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Those silks got no pollen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world:t3:o4:1
# text = Those silks got no pollen
1	Those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	silks	silk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	pollen	pollen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | that silks | no pollen |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer pollen=Stimulus |

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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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