---
title: Identify the principal advantage conferred upon a plant by its root… — Plants deeper: roots and how they drin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal advantage conferred upon a plant by its root hairs. Exam question 2 of lesson 250 «Plants deeper: roots and how they drink, hold and push» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice 
---

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# Exam question 2 · Plants deeper: roots and how they drink, hold and push

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal advantage conferred upon a plant by its root hairs.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, confer · **To what, where:** principal advantage

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 250 «Plants deeper: roots and how they drink, hold and push» of the biology 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/biology/250-plants-deeper-roots-and-how-they-drink-hold-and-push/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:250-plants-deeper-roots-and-how-they-drink-hold-and-push:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal advantage conferred upon a plant by its root hairs.
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	advantage	advantage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	conferred	confer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
11	root	root	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	hairs	hair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	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 advantage |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent advantage=Theme |
| 2 | **confer** | participle |  | the principal advantage *not said here* |  |  |  | upon a plant; by plant's root hairs | vn chit\_chat-37.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
A greatly enlarged surface for the absorption of water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:250-plants-deeper-roots-and-how-they-drink-hold-and-push:e2:o1:1
# text = A greatly enlarged surface for the absorption of water
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	greatly	greatly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	enlarged	enlarged	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	absorption	absorption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **absorb** |  |  | water |  |  |  |  | nom absorption «process transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The production of seeds beneath the soil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:250-plants-deeper-roots-and-how-they-drink-hold-and-push:e2:o2:1
# text = The production of seeds beneath the soil
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	production	production	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **produce** |  |  | seeds beneath the soil |  |  |  |  | nom production «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The conduction of sunlight to the root tip

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:250-plants-deeper-roots-and-how-they-drink-hold-and-push:e2:o3:1
# text = The conduction of sunlight to the root tip
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	conduction	conduction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	root	root	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	tip	tip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **conduct** |  |  | sunlight |  |  |  | to the root tip | nom conduction «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient to=obl |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Protection of the root against burrowing animals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:250-plants-deeper-roots-and-how-they-drink-hold-and-push:e2:o4:1
# text = Protection of the root against burrowing animals
1	Protection	protection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	root	root	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	against	against	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	burrowing	burrow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
7	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burrow** | gerund | the root *not said here* | animals |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **protect** |  |  | the root |  |  |  |  | nom protection «act transitive»: of=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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- ← previous: [Plants deeper: roots and how they drin…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/250-plants-deeper-roots-and-how-they-drink-hold-and-push/e1/)
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- ↑ back to [Plants deeper: roots and how they drink, hold and push](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/250-plants-deeper-roots-and-how-they-drink-hold-and-push/)