---
title: Identify the principal reason for which leaves turn yellow and orang… — Trees and forests through the year · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which leaves turn yellow and orange in autumn. Exam question 2 of lesson 76 «Trees and forests through the year» 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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# Exam question 2 · Trees and forests through the year

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which leaves turn yellow and orange in autumn.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, leaves · **What happens:** identify, turn · **To what, where:** principal reason

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 76 «Trees and forests through the year» of the world course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which leaves turn yellow and orange in autumn.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obl	_	_
7	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	turn	turn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
9	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	orange	orange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	autumn	autumn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **turn** | present | leaves |  |  |  | autumn | for the principal reason; yellow *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The leaves absorb the colour of the sunset

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:e2:o1:1
# text = The leaves absorb the colour of the sunset
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	absorb	absorb	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sunset	sunset	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **absorb** | present | the leaves | the colour of the sunset |  |  |  |  | vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal colour=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Frost paints the leaves with colour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:e2:o2:1
# text = Frost paints the leaves with colour
1	Frost	frost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	paints	paint	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **paint** | present | Frost | the leaves |  |  |  | with colour | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent leaf=Destination with colour=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The green chlorophyll breaks down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:e2:o3:1
# text = The green chlorophyll breaks down
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	chlorophyll	chlorophyll	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	breaks	break	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	down	down	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break down** | present | the green chlorophyll |  |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The tree draws water into the leaves

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:e2:o4:1
# text = The tree draws water into the leaves
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	draws	draw	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **draw** | present | the tree | water |  |  |  | into the leaves *result* | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent water=Patient into leaf=Result |

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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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