---
title: Why would a forest floor be covered with mountains of dead leaves if… — Food chains and food webs · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a forest floor be covered with mountains of dead leaves if there were no decomposers? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 26 «Food chains and food webs» of the world 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 2 · ★ · Food chains and food webs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a forest floor be covered with mountains of dead leaves if there were no decomposers?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** decomposers · **What happens:** cover, be · **To what, where:** forest floor

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This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 26 «Food chains and food webs» of the world 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/world/26-food-chains-and-webs/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:26-food-chains-and-webs:t2:1
# text = Why would a forest floor be covered with mountains of dead leaves if there were no decomposers?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	15	expl	_	_
15	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
16	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	17	det	_	_
17	decomposers	decomposer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | would · passive |  | a forest floor |  |  |  | with mountains of dead leaves | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with mountain=Theme |
| 2 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | no decomposers |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing would break the leaves down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:26-food-chains-and-webs:t2:o1:1
# text = Nothing would break the leaves down
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break down** | would | Nothing | the leaves |  |  |  | down *property* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Animals would eat all the leaves

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:26-food-chains-and-webs:t2:o2:1
# text = Animals would eat all the leaves
1	Animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | would | Animals | all leaves |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Leaves would turn back into trees

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:26-food-chains-and-webs:t2:o3:1
# text = Leaves would turn back into trees
1	Leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	back	back	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn back** | would | Leaves |  |  | trees |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Trees would stop dropping leaves

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:26-food-chains-and-webs:t2:o4:1
# text = Trees would stop dropping leaves
1	Trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	dropping	drop	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | Trees |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **drop** | gerund | Trees *not said here* | leaves |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=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: [Food chains and food webs, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/26-food-chains-and-webs/t1/)
- next →: [Food chains and food webs, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/26-food-chains-and-webs/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Food chains and food webs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/26-food-chains-and-webs/)