---
title: Identify the principal advantage conferred upon a cactus by its spin… — Habitats and adaptations · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal advantage conferred upon a cactus by its spines in place of broad leaves. Exam question 4 of lesson 27 «Habitats and adaptations» of the world 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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# Exam question 4 · Habitats and adaptations

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal advantage conferred upon a cactus by its spines in place of broad leaves.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, confer · **To what, where:** principal advantage

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 27 «Habitats and adaptations» of the world 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/world/27-habitats-and-adaptations/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:27-habitats-and-adaptations:e4:1
# text = Identify the principal advantage conferred upon a cactus by its spines in place of broad leaves.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	advantage	advantage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	conferred	confer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	cactus	cactus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	spines	spine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	broad	broad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal advantage |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent advantage=Theme |
| 2 | **confer** | participle |  | the principal advantage *not said here* |  |  |  | upon a cactus; by cactus's spines in place of broad leaves | vn chit\_chat-37.6 «NP V»: agent=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A reduced loss of water and protection from animals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:27-habitats-and-adaptations:e4:o1:1
# text = A reduced loss of water and protection from animals
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	reduced	reduce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	protection	protection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reduce** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An increased capacity to manufacture food in the sunlight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:27-habitats-and-adaptations:e4:o2:1
# text = An increased capacity to manufacture food in the sunlight
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	increased	increase	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	capacity	capacity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	manufacture	manufacture	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	acl	_	_
6	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **increase** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **manufacture** | to-infinitive |  | food |  | the sunlight |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An attraction of pollinating insects

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:27-habitats-and-adaptations:e4:o3:1
# text = An attraction of pollinating insects
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	attraction	attraction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	pollinating	pollinate	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	insects	insect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pollinate** | gerund | a attraction *not said here* | insects |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An increased absorption of rainfall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:27-habitats-and-adaptations:e4:o4:1
# text = An increased absorption of rainfall
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	increased	increase	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	absorption	absorption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	rainfall	rainfall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **increase** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **absorb** |  |  | rainfall |  |  |  |  | nom absorption «process 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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- next →: [Migration and hibernation, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/28-migration-and-hibernation/t1/)
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