---
title: Ascertain the principal cause of the endangerment of the majority of… — Madagascar: real lemurs, the aye-aye a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal cause of the endangerment of the majority of species of lemur. Exam question 4 of lesson 127 «Madagascar: real lemurs, the aye-aye and the fossa» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's
---

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# Exam question 4 · Madagascar: real lemurs, the aye-aye and the fossa

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal cause of the endangerment of the majority of species of lemur.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, cause · **To what, where:** principal cause, endangerment

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 127 «Madagascar: real lemurs, the aye-aye and the fossa» 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/127-madagascar-real-lemurs/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:127-madagascar-real-lemurs:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal cause of the endangerment of the majority of species of lemur.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	endangerment	endangerment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	majority	majority	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	species	species	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	lemur	lemur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	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 principal cause of the endangerment of the majority of species of lemur |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic |
| 2 | **cause** |  |  | the endangerment of the majority of species of lemur |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: of=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A failure of the species to learn to climb

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:127-madagascar-real-lemurs:e4:o1:1
# text = A failure of the species to learn to climb
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	failure	failure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	species	species	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	acl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **climb** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **fail** |  | the species |  |  |  |  |  | nom failure «act intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The clearance of the forests upon which they depend

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:127-madagascar-real-lemurs:e4:o2:1
# text = The clearance of the forests upon which they depend
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	clearance	clearance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	forests	forest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obl	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	depend	depend	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **depend** | present | forests *= forest* |  |  |  |  | upon the forests | vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S\_ING»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A decline in the temperature of the island

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:127-madagascar-real-lemurs:e4:o3:1
# text = A decline in the temperature of the island
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	decline	decline	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	temperature	temperature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Predation by lions introduced from Africa

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:127-madagascar-real-lemurs:e4:o4:1
# text = Predation by lions introduced from Africa
1	Predation	predation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	by	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	lions	lion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
4	introduced	introduce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Africa	Africa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **introduce** | participle |  | Predation by lions *not said here* |  | Africa |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **predate** |  | lions |  |  |  |  |  | nom predation «act transitive»: by=agent |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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