---
title: What would happen if nothing in nature ever rotted? — Why living things die, and the circle… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if nothing in nature ever rotted? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 53 «Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature» of the religion ethics 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 3 · ★ · Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if nothing in nature ever rotted?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** happen, rot · **To what, where:** nothing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 53 «Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature» of the religion ethics 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/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life:t3:1
# text = What would happen if nothing in nature ever rotted?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	9	advmod	_	_
9	rotted	rot	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **rot** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle · passive |  | nothing |  |  | ever |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dead plants and animals would pile up and the soil would not be fed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life:t3:o1:1
# text = Dead plants and animals would pile up and the soil would not be fed
1	Dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	pile	pile	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	fed	feed	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pile up** | would | Dead plants and animals |  |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **feed** | would · passive |  | the soil |  |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: subject=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Animals would never need to eat again

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life:t3:o2:1
# text = Animals would never need to eat again
1	Animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	need	need	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	again	again	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | would | Animals |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **eat** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Animals *not said here* |  |  |  | again |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Plants would grow faster without soil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life:t3:o3:1
# text = Plants would grow faster without soil
1	Plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
5	without	without	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | Plants |  |  |  |  | without soil; fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing would change at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life:t3:o4:1
# text = Nothing would change at all
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | would | Nothing |  |  | all |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ↑ back to [Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/)