---
title: Why would flowering all at once help bamboo seeds survive hungry see… — China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would flowering all at once help bamboo seeds survive hungry seed-eaters? Test 9 · ★ 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 choi
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies/t9/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus,…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies/) / t9

# Test 9 · ★ · China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus, tea and rice paddies

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would flowering all at once help bamboo seeds survive hungry seed-eaters?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** bamboo seeds · **What happens:** flower, help, survive · **To what, where:** hungry seed eaters

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

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies:t9:1
# text = Why would flowering all at once help bamboo seeds survive hungry seed-eaters?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	flowering	flower	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
4	all	all	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	3	obl	_	_
7	help	help	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	bamboo	bamboo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	survive	survive	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	xcomp	_	_
11	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
12	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	eaters	eater	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flower** | would |  |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn entity\_specific\_modes\_being-47.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at once=Location |
| 2 | **help** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **survive** | present | bamboo seeds | hungry seed eaters |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme eater=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 -->
The seeds are poisonous only then

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies:t9:o1:1
# text = The seeds are poisonous only then
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Seed-eaters sleep that year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies:t9:o2:1
# text = Seed-eaters sleep that year
1	Seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	eaters	eater	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sleep	sleep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sleep** | present | Seed eaters |  |  |  | year |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There are too many seeds for the animals to eat them all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies:t9:o3:1
# text = There are too many seeds for the animals to eat them all
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	nmod:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **does** | present | many seeds |  |  | there |  | for the animals | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **eat** | to-infinitive | many seeds *not said here* | seeds *= seed* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The animals do not see bamboo flowers, because they are green like the leaves

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies:t9:o4:1
# text = The animals do not see bamboo flowers, because they are green like the leaves
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	bamboo	bamboo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
13	like	like	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | present · do-support | the animals | bamboo flowers |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer flower=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | present | animals *= animal* |  |  |  |  | like the leaves; green *property* | 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus,…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies/t8/)
- next →: [China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus,…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies/t10/)
- ↑ back to [China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus, tea and rice paddies](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies/)