plant

«plant» in Mova's school dictionary: a living thing that grows in soil, like a flower, grass… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (plant, plants); verb (plant, plants, planted, planting)

meaning for a pupil

1) A plant is a living thing that grows in soil, like a flower, grass or a tree. Most plants are green and make their own food from sunlight. tree →

2) To plant is to put seeds or plants in the ground so they grow. tree →

3) A plant is also a factory or big machine: a power plant. tree →

4) To plant can mean to put something firmly in place: she planted her feet. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths: plants counted in rows; seeds planted; plants growing in height («grows … each week»). In science: parts of a plant (roots, stem, leaves, flowers), what plants need (light, water, air, warmth), photosynthesis. In everyday life: gardening, houseplants. In stories: «planted a clue».

examples

• She plants 5 rows of 6 flowers. tree →
• The plant grows 2 cm each week. tree →
• He has 12 plants. tree →
• How many plants are in the garden? tree →
• Plants need water and sunlight to grow. tree →
• The roots hold the plant in the soil. tree →
• We planted bean seeds in paper cups. tree →
• The power plant makes electricity for the town. tree →
• Some plants, like poison ivy, can hurt your skin. tree →
• The dwarf stood gazing at the plant. tree →

note

Rows × per row gives the total. «Grows … each week» is a rate. Trap: as a verb «plant» is the action, the thing counted is seeds or trees. Plants make their food using sunlight (photosynthesis) and give off oxygen. Safety: never eat a plant or berry unless an adult says it is safe.

In the corpora

• Cassowaries swallow fruit whole and spread the seeds of over 200 kinds of plants in their droppings.
• Almost all the oxygen we breathe was made by plants and tiny algae in the sea.
• Water inside plant cells pushes outwards and keeps stems firm, like air in a balloon; without enough water the plant wilts.
• Soil gives plants water, grip for their roots and minerals such as nitrogen; without minerals plants grow small and yellow.
• Plants grow mainly at the tips of their shoots and roots, and some bamboos can grow nearly a metre in a day.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «plant» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.