---
title: Ascertain the origin of the dingo upon the Australian continent. — The Australian outback: red kangaroos,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the origin of the dingo upon the Australian continent. Exam question 4 of lesson 165 «The Australian outback: red kangaroos, emus, thorny devils and runaway camels and toads» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each
---

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# Exam question 4 · The Australian outback: red kangaroos, emus, thorny devils…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the origin of the dingo upon the Australian continent.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain · **To what, where:** origin

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 165 «The Australian outback: red kangaroos, emus, thorny devils and runaway camels and toads» 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/165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the origin of the dingo upon the Australian continent.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	origin	origin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	dingo	dingo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Australian	Australian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	continent	continent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	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 origin of the dingo upon the Australian continent |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent origin=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
It was introduced by sheep farmers in the twentieth century

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads:e4:o1:1
# text = It was introduced by sheep farmers in the twentieth century
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	introduced	introduce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	compound	_	_
6	farmers	farmer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:agent	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	twentieth	twentieth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **introduce** | past · passive | sheep farmers | It |  |  | century |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It evolved from the kangaroo

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads:e4:o2:1
# text = It evolved from the kangaroo
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	evolved	evolve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	kangaroo	kangaroo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **evolve** | past | It |  |  |  |  | from the kangaroo | vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.product V PP.patient»: agent=Product from kangaroo=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It arrived in the company of people several thousand years ago

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads:e4:o3:1
# text = It arrived in the company of people several thousand years ago
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
8	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl:unmarked	_	_
11	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | It |  |  | the company of people |  | ago *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It descended from the marsupial wolves of the dinosaur age

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads:e4:o4:1
# text = It descended from the marsupial wolves of the dinosaur age
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	descended	descend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	marsupial	marsupial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	dinosaur	dinosaur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **descend** | past | It |  |  | the marsupial wolves of the dinosaur age |  |  | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from wolf=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [The Australian outback: red kangaroos,…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads/e3/)
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- ↑ back to [The Australian outback: red kangaroos, emus, thorny devils and runaway camels and toads](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads/)