---
title: A botanist says a Welwitschia in the Namib may be over 1,000 years o… — Carnivorous and strange plants · tree and pragmatics
description: A botanist says a Welwitschia in the Namib may be over 1,000 years old. What makes it so odd? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 61 «Carnivorous and strange plants» 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.
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · Carnivorous and strange plants

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A botanist says a Welwitschia in the Namib may be over 1,000 years old. What makes it so odd?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** botanist, Welwitschia · **What happens:** say, be, make · **To what, where:** Welwitschia · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 61 «Carnivorous and strange plants» 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/61-carnivorous-and-strange-plants/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A botanist says a Welwitschia in the Namib may be over 1,000 years old.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:61-carnivorous-and-strange-plants:t11:1
# text = A botanist says a Welwitschia in the Namib may be over 1,000 years old.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	botanist	botanist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Welwitschia	Welwitschia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Namib	Namib	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	cop	_	_
11	over	over	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	1,000	1000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl:unmarked	_	_
14	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a botanist |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | may | a Welwitschia in the Namib |  |  |  | year | old *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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What makes it so odd?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:61-carnivorous-and-strange-plants:t11:2
# text = What makes it so odd?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present |  | Welwitschia |  |  |  | odd *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material it=Product |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has never needed any water at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:61-carnivorous-and-strange-plants:t11:o1:1
# text = It has never needed any water at all
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	needed	need	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | present · perfect · passive |  | It |  | all |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has grown a thousand new leaves every year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:61-carnivorous-and-strange-plants:t11:o2:1
# text = It has grown a thousand new leaves every year
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
6	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
8	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present · perfect | It | thousand new leaves |  |  | year |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location leaf=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has grown only the same two leaves all that time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:61-carnivorous-and-strange-plants:t11:o3:1
# text = It has grown only the same two leaves all that time
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
9	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	11	det:predet	_	_
10	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present · perfect | It | the same two leaves |  |  | time |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has no leaves at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:61-carnivorous-and-strange-plants:t11:o4:1
# text = It has no leaves at all
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | It | no leaves |  | all |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=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.

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