---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Why living things die, and the circle… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the condition of death in a living organism? Exam question 1 of lesson 53 «Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature» of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the q
---

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# Exam question 1 · Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the condition of death in a living organism?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris, condition · **To what, where:** condition, living organism, death

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 53 «Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature» of the religion ethics 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/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the condition of death in a living organism?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	living	living	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	organism	organism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the condition of death |  | a living organism |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **condition** |  |  | death |  |  |  |  | nom condition «state transitive»: of=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A state from which the organism will awaken in due course

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life:e1:o1:1
# text = A state from which the organism will awaken in due course
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	organism	organism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	awaken	awaken	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	acl:relcl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	due	due	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **awaken** | future | the organism |  |  | a state |  | in due course | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in course=Location |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The complete and irreversible cessation of bodily functions

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life:e1:o2:1
# text = The complete and irreversible cessation of bodily functions
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	complete	complete	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	irreversible	irreversible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
5	cessation	cessation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	bodily	bodily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	functions	function	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cease** |  |  | bodily functions |  |  |  |  | nom cessation «event transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A temporary condition analogous to sleep

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life:e1:o3:1
# text = A temporary condition analogous to sleep
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	temporary	temporary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	analogous	analogous	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sleep** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A condition confined to organisms of advanced age and great infirmity

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life:e1:o4:1
# text = A condition confined to organisms of advanced age and great infirmity
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	confined	confine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	organisms	organism	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	advanced	advanced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	infirmity	infirmity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **confine** | participle |  | a condition *not said here* |  | organisms of advanced age and great infirmity |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to organism=Destination |

<!-- 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 -->

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- next →: [Why living things die, and the circle…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/)