---
title: «that cactus is mega tall, must be like 10 years old» What is right? — The desert: living with little water · tree and pragmatics
description: «that cactus is mega tall, must be like 10 years old» What is right? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 5 «The desert: living with little water» 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 was wrong.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/5-the-desert/t10/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [The desert: living with little water](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/5-the-desert/) / t10

# Test 10 · ★ · The desert: living with little water

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«that cactus is mega tall, must be like 10 years old» What is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cactus · **What happens:** be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 5 «The desert: living with little water» of the biology 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/biology/5-the-desert/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:5-the-desert:t10:1
# text = «that cactus is mega tall, must be like 10 years old» What is right?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	cactus	cactus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	mega	mega	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	cop	_	_
10	like	like	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	10	10	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
15	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | that cactus |  |  |  |  | mega, tall *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | must |  |  |  |  | year | old *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 tall saguaro is probably over 100 years old, they grow very slowly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:5-the-desert:t10:o1:1
# text = A tall saguaro is probably over 100 years old, they grow very slowly
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	saguaro	saguaro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
5	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
6	over	over	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	100	100	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
13	very	very	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a tall saguaro |  |  |  | year | old, probably *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **grow** | present | they |  |  |  |  | slowly *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cactuses never get older than 10

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:5-the-desert:t10:o2:1
# text = Cactuses never get older than 10
1	Cactuses	cactuse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	4	fixed	_	_
6	10	10	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **get** | present | Cactuses | 10 |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer 10=Stimulus |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is probably 1 year old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:5-the-desert:t10:o3:1
# text = It is probably 1 year old
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	1	1	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  | year | old, probably *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, cactuses grow a metre a year, so it is about ten

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:5-the-desert:t10:o4:1
# text = Yes, cactuses grow a metre a year, so it is about ten
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	cactuses	cactuse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	metre	metre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	about	about	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | cactuses | a metre |  |  | year |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location metre=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | present | metre | ten |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [The desert: living with little water, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/5-the-desert/t9/)
- next →: [The desert: living with little water, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/5-the-desert/t11/)
- ↑ back to [The desert: living with little water](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/5-the-desert/)