---
title: Why might a baobab drop its leaves in the dry season? — Trees · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might a baobab drop its leaves in the dry season? Test 12 · ★★★ of lesson 60 «Trees» 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 right.
---

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# Test 12 · ★★★ · Trees

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might a baobab drop its leaves in the dry season?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** baobab · **What happens:** drop · **To what, where:** leaves

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This is test 12 · ★★★ of lesson 60 «Trees» 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/60-trees/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:60-trees:t12:1
# text = Why might a baobab drop its leaves in the dry season?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	baobab	baobab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	drop	drop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	season	season	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drop** | might | a baobab | baobab's leaves |  |  | season |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=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 -->
Because the leaves are too heavy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:60-trees:t12:o1:1
# text = Because the leaves are too heavy
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the animals have eaten them all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:60-trees:t12:o2:1
# text = Because the animals have eaten them all
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	nmod:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present · perfect · passive |  | the animals |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To let more sunlight in to dry out and harden the trunk

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:60-trees:t12:o3:1
# text = To let more sunlight in to dry out and harden the trunk
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	amod	_	_
4	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	dry	dry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	harden	harden	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | to-infinitive |  | more sunlight |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sunlight=Theme |
| 2 | **dry out** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **harden** | infinitive |  | the trunk |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent trunk=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To stop losing water through its leaves when there is no rain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:60-trees:t12:o4:1
# text = To stop losing water through its leaves when there is no rain
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stop	stop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	losing	lose	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
9	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	10	expl	_	_
10	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
11	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	12	det	_	_
12	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **lose** | gerund |  | water |  | water's leaves |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Eventuality |
| 3 | **be** | present | no rain |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «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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