---
title: Why would a flower close when it rains? — Flowers and pollination · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a flower close when it rains? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 58 «Flowers and pollination» 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 9 · ★★ · Flowers and pollination

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a flower close when it rains?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** it · **What happens:** rain

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 58 «Flowers and pollination» 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/58-flowers-and-pollination/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:58-flowers-and-pollination:t9:1
# text = Why would a flower close when it rains?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	8	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	rains	rain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rain** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn weather-57 «It V PP.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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the petals drown

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:58-flowers-and-pollination:t9:o1:1
# text = Because the petals drown
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	petals	petal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	drown	drown	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drown** | present | the petals |  |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To catch the raindrops inside

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:58-flowers-and-pollination:t9:o2:1
# text = To catch the raindrops inside
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	catch	catch	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	raindrops	raindrop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	inside	inside	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | to-infinitive |  | the raindrops |  |  |  | inside *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent raindrop=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To trap the insects that are sheltering inside it from the rain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:58-flowers-and-pollination:t9:o3:1
# text = To trap the insects that are sheltering inside it from the rain
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	trap	trap	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	insects	insect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	sheltering	shelter	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	acl:relcl	_	_
8	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trap** | to-infinitive |  | the insects |  | the rain |  |  | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent insect=Patient |
| 2 | **shelter** | present · progressive | the insects |  |  | it |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme inside it=Location |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To keep its pollen dry and safe until the sun comes back

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:58-flowers-and-pollination:t9:o4:1
# text = To keep its pollen dry and safe until the sun comes back
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	pollen	pollen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
12	back	back	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  | its pollen |  |  |  | dry *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pollen=Theme |
| 2 | **come back** | present | the sun |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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- ← previous: [Flowers and pollination, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/58-flowers-and-pollination/t8/)
- next →: [Flowers and pollination, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/58-flowers-and-pollination/t10/)
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