---
title: What is the significance, within the hothouse, of an individual plan… — Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mothe… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is the significance, within the hothouse, of an individual plant's withering? Exam question 3 of lesson 995 «Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mother, part 206: a mother follows Death and pays a price» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the q
---

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# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mother, part 206: a mothe…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What is the significance, within the hothouse, of an individual plant's withering?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** individual plant · **What happens:** be, wither · **To what, where:** significance

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 995 «Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mother, part 206: a mother follows Death and pays a price» of the books 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/books/995-pg27200-part206/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:995-pg27200-part206:e3:1
# text = What is the significance, within the hothouse, of an individual plant's withering?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	significance	significance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	within	within	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	hothouse	hothouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	individual	individual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	withering	withering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the significance and the hothouse and a individual plant's withering |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **wither** |  | a individual plant |  |  |  |  |  | nom withering «event intransitive»: poss=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means the plant needs more water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:995-pg27200-part206:e3:o1:1
# text = It means the plant needs more water
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **need** | present | the plant | more water |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot water=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It shows the gardener is growing tired

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:995-pg27200-part206:e3:o2:1
# text = It shows the gardener is growing tired
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	gardener	gardener	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
7	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **grow** | present · progressive | the gardener |  |  |  |  | tired *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It marks a warning from the old woman

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:995-pg27200-part206:e3:o3:1
# text = It marks a warning from the old woman
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	marks	mark	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	warning	warning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mark** | present | It | a warning |  |  |  | from the old woman | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent warning=Destination |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It signifies the ending of a human life

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:995-pg27200-part206:e3:o4:1
# text = It signifies the ending of a human life
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	signifies	signify	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	ending	ending	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **signify** | present | It | the ending of a human life |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot ending=Theme |
| 2 | **end** |  |  | a human life |  |  |  |  | nom ending «communication 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.

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- ← previous: [Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mothe…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/995-pg27200-part206/e2/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mothe…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/995-pg27200-part206/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mother, part 206: a mother follows Death and pays a price](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/995-pg27200-part206/)