And living things have a metabolism (they take in matter, convert it to energy, and expel a waste product). But the same thing happens when we put gas into an car and drive around.

Besides growth and metabolism, other characteristics used are reproduction (able to duplicate itself), heredity (able to pass on characteristics from one generation to another), movement (of all or part of itself – even plants can turn their parts toward or away from sunlight), response to a stimulus, their form shows some sort of order (groupings or related structures and functions), they’re capable of development (from less to more complexity), they can adapt to different changes around them, and through adaptation, reproduction, and heredity, they are able to evolve.

Don’t know about the plant kingdom, but a living plant will have sap in its stem any leaves will be green and flowers will be colour full. Dead plants are brown and dry. Hope this helps