---
title: Why would a giant water lily leaf need spikes on its underside? — Roots, stems and leaves · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a giant water lily leaf need spikes on its underside? Test 12 · ★ of lesson 57 «Roots, stems and leaves» 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 · ★ · Roots, stems and leaves

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a giant water lily leaf need spikes on its underside?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** giant lily leaf · **What happens:** need · **To what, where:** spikes, underside

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This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 57 «Roots, stems and leaves» 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/57-roots-stems-and-leaves/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:57-roots-stems-and-leaves:t12:1
# text = Why would a giant water lily leaf need spikes on its underside?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
5	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	lily	lily	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	spikes	spike	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	underside	underside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | would | a giant lily leaf | spikes |  | leaf's underside |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot spike=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
To help it swim

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:57-roots-stems-and-leaves:t12:o1:1
# text = To help it swim
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	swim	swim	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **swim** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To hold it down to the bottom of the pond in a storm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:57-roots-stems-and-leaves:t12:o2:1
# text = To hold it down to the bottom of the pond in a storm
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hold	hold	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	down	down	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold down** | to-infinitive |  | it |  | a storm |  | to the bottom of the pond | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme in storm=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To catch flies like a trap

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:57-roots-stems-and-leaves:t12:o3:1
# text = To catch flies like a trap
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	catch	catch	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	flies	fly	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	trap	trap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | to-infinitive |  | flies |  |  |  | like a trap | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fly=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To protect it from fish and other animals that would eat it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:57-roots-stems-and-leaves:t12:o4:1
# text = To protect it from fish and other animals that would eat it
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	protect	protect	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl:relcl	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **protect** | to-infinitive |  | it |  |  |  | from fish and other animals | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Beneficiary from fish=Theme |
| 2 | **eat** | would | other animals | it |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

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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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