---
title: Van Helmont's willow gained about 74 kg in five years, but the soil… — How plants grow: seeds, light, water a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Van Helmont's willow gained about 74 kg in five years, but the soil lost only a few grams. Where did the weight come from? Test 2 of lesson 56 «How plants grow: seeds, light, water and air» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of
---

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# Test 2 · How plants grow: seeds, light, water and air

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Van Helmont's willow gained about 74 kg in five years, but the soil lost only a few grams. Where did the weight come from?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** willow, soil, weight · **What happens:** gain, lose, come · **To what, where:** 74 kg, few grams

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 of lesson 56 «How plants grow: seeds, light, water and air» 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/56-how-plants-grow/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Van Helmont's willow gained about 74 kg in five years, but the soil lost only a few grams.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:56-how-plants-grow:t2:1
# text = Van Helmont's willow gained about 74 kg in five years, but the soil lost only a few grams.
1	Van	Van	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	_
2	Helmont	Helmont	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
4	willow	willow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	gained	gain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	about	about	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	74	74	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	kg	kg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
17	only	only	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	grams	gram	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gain** | past | Van's willow | 74 kg |  |  | year |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kg=Theme |
| 2 | **lose** | past | the soil | a few grams |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gram=Eventuality |

<!-- .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:* Where did the weight come from?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:56-how-plants-grow:t2:2
# text = Where did the weight come from?
1	Where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	5	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past · do-support | the weight |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mostly from the air and the water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:56-how-plants-grow:t2:o1:1
# text = Mostly from the air and the water
1	Mostly	mostly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
From the pot

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:56-how-plants-grow:t2:o2:1
# text = From the pot
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
From worms in the soil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:56-how-plants-grow:t2:o3:1
# text = From worms in the soil
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	worms	worm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
From the soil, which grew back by itself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:56-how-plants-grow:t2:o4:1
# text = From the soil, which grew back by itself
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	back	back	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow back** | past |  |  |  | the soil |  | by soil | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient from soil=Initial\_State by itself=Extent |

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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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