---
title: Why would grass roots make richer soil than a pine forest's needles? — Ukraine's plants: sunflowers, viburnum… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would grass roots make richer soil than a pine forest's needles? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 377 «Ukraine's plants: sunflowers, viburnum, poppies, lime trees and steppe grasses» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; M
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Ukraine's plants: sunflowers, viburnum, poppies, lime tree…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would grass roots make richer soil than a pine forest's needles?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** grass roots · **What happens:** make · **To what, where:** richer soil

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 377 «Ukraine's plants: sunflowers, viburnum, poppies, lime trees and steppe grasses» 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/377-ukraine-s-plants-sunflowers-viburnum-poppies-lime-trees-and-steppe-grasses/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:377-ukraine-s-plants-sunflowers-viburnum-poppies-lime-trees-and-steppe-grasses:t9:1
# text = Why would grass roots make richer soil than a pine forest's needles?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	richer	rich	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
7	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	pine	pine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	needles	needle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | grass roots | richer soil |  |  |  | than a pine forest's needles | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset soil=Product |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Many roots die and rot deep in the ground every year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:377-ukraine-s-plants-sunflowers-viburnum-poppies-lime-trees-and-steppe-grasses:t9:o1:1
# text = Many roots die and rot deep in the ground every year
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	die	die	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	rot	rot	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
6	deep	deep	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	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	det	_	_
11	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | present | Many roots |  |  |  | year | in the ground | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in ground=Attribute |
| 2 | **rot** | present | Many roots *not said here* |  |  |  |  | deep *property* | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pine trees drink all the soil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:377-ukraine-s-plants-sunflowers-viburnum-poppies-lime-trees-and-steppe-grasses:t9:o2:1
# text = Pine trees drink all the soil
1	Pine	pine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	drink	drink	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drink** | present | Pine trees | all soil |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent soil=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pine needles are made of metal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:377-ukraine-s-plants-sunflowers-viburnum-poppies-lime-trees-and-steppe-grasses:t9:o3:1
# text = Pine needles are made of metal
1	Pine	pine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	needles	needle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | Pine needles |  |  |  | of metal | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Grass makes soil out of air and rain all by itself, without any help

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:377-ukraine-s-plants-sunflowers-viburnum-poppies-lime-trees-and-steppe-grasses:t9:o4:1
# text = Grass makes soil out of air and rain all by itself, without any help
1	Grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
9	all	all	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	without	without	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	det	_	_
15	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Grass | soil |  | air and rain |  | by Grass | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset soil=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.

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