---
title: Why do scientists photograph gorillas' noses instead of putting tags… — The great apes: chimpanzees, bonobos,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do scientists photograph gorillas' noses instead of putting tags on them? Test 9 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
---

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# Test 9 · The great apes: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do scientists photograph gorillas' noses instead of putting tags on them?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** scientists · **What happens:** photograph, put · **To what, where:** noses, tags

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:16-the-great-apes:t9:1
# text = Why do scientists photograph gorillas' noses instead of putting tags on them?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	photograph	photograph	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	gorillas	gorilla	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	'	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	noses	nose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	10	mark	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	fixed	_	_
10	putting	put	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
11	tags	tag	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **photograph** | present · do-support | scientists | gorillas's noses |  |  |  |  | vn transcribe-25.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nose=Theme |
| 2 | **put** | gerund | scientists *not said here* | tags |  |  |  | on scientists *= scientist* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent tag=Theme on they=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
Their noses tell their age

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:16-the-great-apes:t9:o1:1
# text = Their noses tell their age
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	noses	nose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | Their noses | noses's age |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent age=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tags fall off in the rain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:16-the-great-apes:t9:o2:1
# text = Tags fall off in the rain
1	Tags	tag	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	fall	fall	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	off	off	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall off** | present | Tags |  |  |  |  | in the rain | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in rain=Attribute |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each nose wrinkle pattern is unique, so no catching is needed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:16-the-great-apes:t9:o3:1
# text = Each nose wrinkle pattern is unique, so no catching is needed
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
2	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	wrinkle	wrinkle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	pattern	pattern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	unique	unique	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
10	catching	catching	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	needed	need	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | each wrinkle pattern |  |  |  |  | unique *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **need** | present · passive |  | no catching |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gorillas love having their picture taken and pose for the cameras

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:16-the-great-apes:t9:o4:1
# text = Gorillas love having their picture taken and pose for the cameras
1	Gorillas	gorilla	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	love	love	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	xcomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	pose	pose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cameras	camera	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **love** | present | Gorillas |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **have** *not said to happen* | gerund | Gorillas *not said here* | Gorillas's picture |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **take** | participle | Gorillas's picture *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **pose** | infinitive | Gorillas *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the cameras | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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