---
title: Why might roots survive when everything above ground burns? — China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might roots survive when everything above ground burns? Test 12 · ★ of lesson 380 «China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus, tea and rice paddies» 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 12 · ★ · China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus, tea and rice paddies

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might roots survive when everything above ground burns?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** roots · **What happens:** survive · **To what, where:** everything burns

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 380 «China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus, tea and rice paddies» 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/380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies:t12:1
# text = Why might roots survive when everything above ground burns?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	survive	survive	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
6	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	9	compound	_	_
7	above	above	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	burns	burn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **survive** | might | roots | everything burns |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme burn=Circumstance |

<!-- .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 -->
Fire cannot reach the dark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies:t12:o1:1
# text = Fire cannot reach the dark
1	Fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	dark	dark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **reach** | can | Fire | the dark |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent dark=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Roots grow back faster than flames

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies:t12:o2:1
# text = Roots grow back faster than flames
1	Roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	back	back	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	advmod	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	flames	flame	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Roots are made of stone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies:t12:o3:1
# text = Roots are made of stone
1	Roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The soil shields them from the heat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies:t12:o4:1
# text = The soil shields them from the heat
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	shields	shield	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shield** | present | the soil | them *= they* |  | the heat |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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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