---
title: A child asks "Why do leaves fall in autumn?" and no adult knows. Wha… — Speaking up, saying no and growing up · tree and pragmatics
description: A child asks "Why do leaves fall in autumn?" and no adult knows. What is a good next step? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 215 «Speaking up, saying no and growing up» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was w
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Speaking up, saying no and growing up

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A child asks "Why do leaves fall in autumn?" and no adult knows. What is a good next step?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** child, leaves, adult · **What happens:** ask, fall, know, be · **To what, where:** good next step · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 215 «Speaking up, saying no and growing up» of the everyday 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/everyday/215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A child asks "Why do leaves fall in autumn?" and no adult knows.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up:t9:1
# text = A child asks "Why do leaves fall in autumn?" and no adult knows.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
6	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	autumn	autumn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	15	det	_	_
15	adult	adult	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | a child |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **fall** *in a quote* | present · do-support | leaves |  |  |  | autumn |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **know** | present | no adult |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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:* What is a good next step?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up:t9:2
# text = What is a good next step?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | a good next step |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Never ask such questions again

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up:t9:o1:1
# text = Never ask such questions again
1	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
2	ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	again	again	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **ask** *speech: ask* | imperative | you *not said here* | such questions |  |  | again |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent question=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Make up an answer and believe it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up:t9:o2:1
# text = Make up an answer and believe it
1	Make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	up	up	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	believe	believe	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make up** | imperative | you *not said here* | a answer |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme answer=Pivot |
| 2 | **believe** | infinitive | you *not said here* | answer |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Decide that nobody can ever know the answer to that

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up:t9:o3:1
# text = Decide that nobody can ever know the answer to that
1	Decide	decide	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
3	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	6	advmod	_	_
6	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	ccomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decide** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **know** | can | nobody | the answer |  |  | ever | to that | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer answer=Stimulus |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Look it up together in a book or online

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up:t9:o4:1
# text = Look it up together in a book or online
1	Look	look	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
4	together	together	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	online	online	ADV	RB	_	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look up** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  | a book |  | together *property* | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Attribute |

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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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