---
title: Identify the principal reason for which numerous plants contain pois… — Poisonous plants to stay away from: be… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which numerous plants contain poisonous substances. Exam question 2 of lesson 392 «Poisonous plants to stay away from: berries, foxglove, yew and nightshade» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and 
---

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# Exam question 2 · Poisonous plants to stay away from: berries, foxglove, yew…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which numerous plants contain poisonous substances.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, numerous plants · **What happens:** identify, contain · **To what, where:** principal reason, poisonous substances

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 392 «Poisonous plants to stay away from: berries, foxglove, yew and nightshade» 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/392-poisonous-plants-to-stay-away-from-berries-foxglove-yew-and-nightshade/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:392-poisonous-plants-to-stay-away-from-berries-foxglove-yew-and-nightshade:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which numerous plants contain poisonous substances.
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	9	obl	_	_
7	numerous	numerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	contain	contain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
10	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	substances	substance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	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 | **contain** | present | numerous plants | poisonous substances |  |  |  | for the principal reason | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot substance=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To preserve the colour of their flowers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:392-poisonous-plants-to-stay-away-from-berries-foxglove-yew-and-nightshade:e2:o1:1
# text = To preserve the colour of their flowers
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	preserve	preserve	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **preserve** | to-infinitive |  | the colour of their flowers |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colour=Beneficiary |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To accelerate the growth of their stems

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:392-poisonous-plants-to-stay-away-from-berries-foxglove-yew-and-nightshade:e2:o2:1
# text = To accelerate the growth of their stems
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	accelerate	accelerate	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	growth	growth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	stems	stem	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accelerate** | to-infinitive |  | the growth of their stems |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent growth=Patient |
| 2 | **grow** |  | their stems |  |  |  |  |  | nom growth «process intransitive»: of=agent |
| 3 | **stem** |  | their *= they* |  |  |  |  |  | nom stem «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To deter animals from consuming their leaves and seeds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:392-poisonous-plants-to-stay-away-from-berries-foxglove-yew-and-nightshade:e2:o3:1
# text = To deter animals from consuming their leaves and seeds
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	deter	deter	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	consuming	consume	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deter** | to-infinitive |  | animals |  |  |  |  | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer animal=Eventuality |
| 2 | **consume** | gerund |  | animals's leaves and seeds |  |  |  |  | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=Asset |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To attract animals to consume them in the greatest possible quantity

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:392-poisonous-plants-to-stay-away-from-berries-foxglove-yew-and-nightshade:e2:o4:1
# text = To attract animals to consume them in the greatest possible quantity
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	attract	attract	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	consume	consume	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	greatest	great	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	amod	_	_
10	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	quantity	quantity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **attract** | to-infinitive |  | animals |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **consume** | to-infinitive |  | animals *= animal* |  | the greatest possible quantity |  |  | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Asset |

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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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- ↑ back to [Poisonous plants to stay away from: berries, foxglove, yew and nightshade](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/392-poisonous-plants-to-stay-away-from-berries-foxglove-yew-and-nightshade/)