---
title: How did farmers without science books turn a scruffy wild grass into… — Rice, maize and potatoes: the plants t… · tree and pragmatics
description: How did farmers without science books turn a scruffy wild grass into big soft corn cobs? Test 9 · ★ 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 9 · ★ · Rice, maize and potatoes: the plants that feed the world

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How did farmers without science books turn a scruffy wild grass into big soft corn cobs?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** science books · **What happens:** do, turn · **To what, where:** farmers, scruffy wild grass, big soft corn cobs

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world:t9:1
# text = How did farmers without science books turn a scruffy wild grass into big soft corn cobs?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	farmers	farmer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	science	science	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	turn	turn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	scruffy	scruffy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
10	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
12	into	into	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
14	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
15	corn	corn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	cobs	cob	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  | farmers |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent farmer=Eventuality |
| 2 | **turn** | present | science books | a scruffy wild grass |  | big soft corn cobs |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent grass=Theme into cob=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 poured special magic water on the wild grass every morning until it grew cobs

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world:t9:o1:1
# text = They poured special magic water on the wild grass every morning until it grew cobs
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	poured	pour	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	special	special	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
10	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	det	_	_
11	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
12	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
15	cobs	cob	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pour** | past | They | special magic water |  | the wild grass | morning |  | vn preparing-26.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Patient |
| 2 | **grow** | past | water | cobs |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location cob=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They kept seeds from their best plants year after year for thousands of years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world:t9:o2:1
# text = They kept seeds from their best plants year after year for thousands of years
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
6	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	compound	_	_
8	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	after	after	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | past | They | seeds |  |  | year | for thousands of years | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent seed=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They crossed it with apple trees

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world:t9:o3:1
# text = They crossed it with apple trees
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	crossed	cross	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	apple	apple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cross** | past | They | it |  |  |  | with apple trees | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A single farmer did it in one summer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world:t9:o4:1
# text = A single farmer did it in one summer
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	summer	summer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | a single farmer | it |  |  | summer |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

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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.

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