---
title: A silverback is 15 years old. Why has his back turned silver? — The great apes: chimpanzees, bonobos,… · tree and pragmatics
description: A silverback is 15 years old. Why has his back turned silver? Test 2 of lesson 16 «The great apes: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans» 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 right.
---

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# Test 2 · The great apes: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A silverback is 15 years old. Why has his back turned silver?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** silverback, back · **What happens:** be, have, turn · **To what, where:** silver

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This is test 2 of lesson 16 «The great apes: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. 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/16-the-great-apes/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A silverback is 15 years old.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:16-the-great-apes:t2:1
# text = A silverback is 15 years old.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	silverback	silverback	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	15	15	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a silverback |  |  |  | year | old *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why has his back turned silver?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:16-the-great-apes:t2:2
# text = Why has his back turned silver?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
6	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **turn** | past | his back | silver |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent silver=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Males' backs turn silver from about 12 years old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:16-the-great-apes:t2:o1:1
# text = Males' backs turn silver from about 12 years old
1	Males	male	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	backs	back	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	turn	turn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	about	about	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	12	12	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
10	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | present | Males's backs | silver |  |  | year |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent silver=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is very ill

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:16-the-great-apes:t2:o2:1
# text = He is very ill
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He has been rolling in ash

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:16-the-great-apes:t2:o3:1
# text = He has been rolling in ash
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	aux	_	_
4	rolling	roll	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	ash	ash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roll** | present · perfect · progressive | He |  |  | ash |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in ash=Trajectory |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only very old gorillas go silver at 40

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:16-the-great-apes:t2:o4:1
# text = Only very old gorillas go silver at 40
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	very	very	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	gorillas	gorilla	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	silver	silver	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	40	40	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present | old gorillas |  |  | 40 |  | silver *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at 40=Location |

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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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