---
title: Why could a cactus not survive in a dark, wet forest well? — Habitats and adaptations · tree and pragmatics
description: Why could a cactus not survive in a dark, wet forest well? Test 9 · ★★ 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · Habitats and adaptations

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why could a cactus not survive in a dark, wet forest well?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cactus · **What happens:** not survive · **To what, where:** dark wet forest

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This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 27 «Habitats and adaptations» of the world 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/world/27-habitats-and-adaptations/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:27-habitats-and-adaptations:t9:1
# text = Why could a cactus not survive in a dark, wet forest well?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cactus	cactus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	survive	survive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
9	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
11	wet	wet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
13	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **survive** | could | a cactus |  |  | a dark wet forest |  | well *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in forest=Location |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It cannot make any seeds there

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:27-habitats-and-adaptations:t9:o1:1
# text = It cannot make any seeds there
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **make** | can | It | any seeds |  | there |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material seed=Product |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is adapted to bright light and dry soil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:27-habitats-and-adaptations:t9:o2:1
# text = It is adapted to bright light and dry soil
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	adapted	adapt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **adapt** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  | to bright light and dry soil *goal* | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP PP»: subject=Patient to light=Goal |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It needs to eat forest animals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:27-habitats-and-adaptations:t9:o3:1
# text = It needs to eat forest animals
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **eat** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | forest animals |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent animal=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rain would wash its spines off

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:27-habitats-and-adaptations:t9:o4:1
# text = Rain would wash its spines off
1	Rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	wash	wash	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	spines	spine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	off	off	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wash off** | would | Rain | Rain's spines |  |  |  | off *property* | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spine=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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