---
title: Why is it hard for small plants to grow under a thick canopy? — Trees and forests through the year · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is it hard for small plants to grow under a thick canopy? Test 6 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 6 · Trees and forests through the year

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is it hard for small plants to grow under a thick canopy?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** small plants · **What happens:** be, grow · **To what, where:** thick canopy

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This is test 6 of lesson 76 «Trees and forests through the year» 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/76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:t6:1
# text = Why is it hard for small plants to grow under a thick canopy?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	expl	_	_
4	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
10	under	under	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	canopy	canopy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **grow** | to-infinitive | small plants |  |  | a thick canopy |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under canopy=Location |

<!-- .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 canopy makes the soil too salty

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:t6:o1:1
# text = The canopy makes the soil too salty
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	canopy	canopy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	salty	salty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | the canopy | the soil |  |  |  | salty *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset soil=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The canopy keeps all the rain for itself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:t6:o2:1
# text = The canopy keeps all the rain for itself
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	canopy	canopy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | the canopy | all rain |  |  |  | for canopy | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rain=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The tall trees block most of the light

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:t6:o3:1
# text = The tall trees block most of the light
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	block	block	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **block** | present | the tall trees | most of the light |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer most=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The tall trees eat the small plants

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:t6:o4:1
# text = The tall trees eat the small plants
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | the tall trees | the small plants |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plant=Patient |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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