---
title: Identify the means by which the giant anteater, being without teeth,… — The South American area: sloths, antea… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the means by which the giant anteater, being without teeth, reduces its food. Exam question 2 of lesson 108 «The South American area: sloths, anteaters, piranhas and giant otters» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of 
---

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# Exam question 2 · The South American area: sloths, anteaters, piranhas and g…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the means by which the giant anteater, being without teeth, reduces its food.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, the · **What happens:** identify, mean, be, reduce · **To what, where:** food

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 108 «The South American area: sloths, anteaters, piranhas and giant otters» 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/108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters:e2:1
# text = Identify the means by which the giant anteater, being without teeth, reduces its food.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	anteater	anteater	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	cop	_	_
11	without	without	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	reduces	reduce	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **mean** | present | the |  |  |  |  | by the giant anteater and teeth | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | gerund | the *not said here* |  |  |  |  | without teeth | tree rules |
| 4 | **reduce** | present | the *not said here* | its food |  |  |  |  | vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer food=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
The food is softened by soaking in water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters:e2:o1:1
# text = The food is softened by soaking in water
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	softened	soften	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	soaking	soak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **soften** | present · passive |  | the food |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **soak** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | in water | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent in water=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The food is chewed by ridges upon the tongue

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters:e2:o2:1
# text = The food is chewed by ridges upon the tongue
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	chewed	chew	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	ridges	ridge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
7	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chew** | present · passive | ridges | the food |  |  |  | upon the tongue | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The food is ground in the stomach

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters:e2:o3:1
# text = The food is ground in the stomach
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stomach	stomach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the food | ground |  | the stomach |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The food is dissolved in the mouth before swallowing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters:e2:o4:1
# text = The food is dissolved in the mouth before swallowing
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	dissolved	dissolve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	swallowing	swallow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dissolve** | present · passive |  | the food |  | the mouth |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **swallow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

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