---
title: Ascertain the aggregate number of legs possessed by five pond skater… — Rivers, lakes and ponds · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the aggregate number of legs possessed by five pond skaters and one dragonfly. Exam question 4 of lesson 10 «Rivers, lakes and ponds» of the biology 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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# Exam question 4 · Rivers, lakes and ponds

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the aggregate number of legs possessed by five pond skaters and one dragonfly.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, possess · **To what, where:** aggregate number, legs

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 10 «Rivers, lakes and ponds» of the biology 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/biology/10-rivers-lakes-and-ponds/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:10-rivers-lakes-and-ponds:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the aggregate number of legs possessed by five pond skaters and one dragonfly.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	aggregate	aggregate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	possessed	possess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
10	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	skaters	skater	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	dragonfly	dragonfly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the aggregate number of legs |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Topic |
| 2 | **possess** | participle |  | legs *not said here* |  |  |  | by five pond skaters and one dragonfly | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Twenty-four

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:10-rivers-lakes-and-ponds:e4:o1:1
# text = Twenty-four
1	Twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Thirty

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:10-rivers-lakes-and-ponds:e4:o2:1
# text = Thirty
1	Thirty	thirty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Forty-two

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:10-rivers-lakes-and-ponds:e4:o3:1
# text = Forty-two
1	Forty	forty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Thirty-six

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:10-rivers-lakes-and-ponds:e4:o4:1
# text = Thirty-six
1	Thirty	thirty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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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- ← previous: [Rivers, lakes and ponds, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/10-rivers-lakes-and-ponds/e3/)
- next →: [Swamps, marshes, mangroves and bogs, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/11-swamps-marshes-mangroves-and-bogs/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Rivers, lakes and ponds](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/10-rivers-lakes-and-ponds/)