--- title: Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Every living thing, a sunflower, a bee, a fox or a person, has a body that wears out or gets badly hurt or --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/) / Why living things die, and the circle… # Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature Lesson 53 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/0/) — Every living thing, a sunflower, a bee, a fox or a person, has a body that wears out or gets badly hurt or ill in the end; when the body stops working completely, the heart stops, breathing stops and the brain stops, and it does not start again. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/1/) — Dead is not asleep: a sleeping cat still breathes and will wake up, but a dead bee on the windowsill will never move again, however gently Jayden pokes it. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/2/) — In autumn Josh kicks through dead brown leaves, but the tree is alive and resting; the leaves rot with worms, fungi and bacteria into rich soil that feeds next spring's growth, just as the compost heap turns old peel into food for new plants. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/3/) — So the food chain is really a circle: the sun feeds the grass, the grass feeds the rabbit, the rabbit feeds the fox, and when the fox dies, beetles, worms and bacteria turn it back into soil for the grass. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/4/) — Why we must die at all is one of the biggest questions there is: Christians believe death is not the end because Jesus rose from the dead, other faiths have their own answers, many non-religious people say death is simply part of nature, and grown-ups do not have all the answers. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/5/) — When a living thing dies, its body stops working completely and will not start again. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/6/) — Death is not sleep: a sleeping animal still breathes and has a heartbeat, and it will wake. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/7/) — Many trees drop their leaves in autumn and rest through winter; the leaves die, but the tree lives on. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/8/) — Worms, fungi and bacteria break down dead plants and animals into soil; this is called decomposition. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/9/) — A food chain shows who eats whom, starting from the sun and plants; when animals die, decomposers return them to the soil, so the chain is really a circle. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/10/) — Lions are meat-eaters and cannot live on grass; hunting is how they feed themselves and their cubs, not cruelty. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/11/) — Sunflowers live for one summer: they grow, flower, make seeds and die, which is their natural life. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/12/) — Some living things die young through illness, accidents or bad conditions; often nobody can know the exact reason. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/13/) — Most meat comes from farm animals; some people, vegetarians and vegans, choose not to eat meat, and many Hindus and Buddhists are vegetarian because their faiths teach care for animal life. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/14/) — Dinosaurs (apart from the ones that became birds) died out about 66 million years ago; there is no sign that people will die out any time soon, and many people work hard to keep the Earth safe. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/16/) — Jesus said not one sparrow falls without God knowing, and that a seed must fall into the ground and die to make many seeds. - ← previous: [Getting old: how long people and animals live](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/) - next →: [Life is precious: wonder and gratitude](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/54-life-is-precious-wonder-and-gratitude/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)