---
title: Why might a plant pollinated by moths have white flowers? — Flowers and pollination · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might a plant pollinated by moths have white flowers? Test 3 · ★★ of lesson 58 «Flowers and pollination» 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 right.
---

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# Test 3 · ★★ · Flowers and pollination

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might a plant pollinated by moths have white flowers?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** moths · **What happens:** pollinate, have · **To what, where:** plant, white flowers

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This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 58 «Flowers and pollination» 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/58-flowers-and-pollination/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:58-flowers-and-pollination:t3:1
# text = Why might a plant pollinated by moths have white flowers?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	pollinated	pollinate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	moths	moth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
9	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pollinate** | might · passive |  | a plant |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | present | moths | white flowers |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flower=Patient |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pale petals show up best in the dim evening light

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:58-flowers-and-pollination:t3:o1:1
# text = Pale petals show up best in the dim evening light
1	Pale	pale	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	petals	petal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	best	well	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	3	advmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	dim	dim	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show up** | present | Pale petals |  |  | the dim evening light |  | well *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in light=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
White flowers are cheaper to make than coloured ones

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:58-flowers-and-pollination:t3:o2:1
# text = White flowers are cheaper to make than coloured ones
1	White	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	cheaper	cheap	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	coloured	coloured	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | White flowers |  |  |  |  | cheap *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive | White flowers *not said here* |  |  |  |  | than coloured ones | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Moths eat only white food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:58-flowers-and-pollination:t3:o3:1
# text = Moths eat only white food
1	Moths	moth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Moths are scared of colours

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:58-flowers-and-pollination:t3:o4:1
# text = Moths are scared of colours
1	Moths	moth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	scared	scared	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	colours	colour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Moths |  |  |  |  | of colours; scared *property* | tree rules |

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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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- ← previous: [Flowers and pollination, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/58-flowers-and-pollination/t2/)
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