---
title: Select the principal reason for which the great apes are unable to a… — How close are apes to us? · tree and pragmatics
description: Select the principal reason for which the great apes are unable to articulate words in the manner of humans. Exam question 4 of lesson 17 «How close are apes to us?» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's cho
---

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# Exam question 4 · How close are apes to us?

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Select the principal reason for which the great apes are unable to articulate words in the manner of humans.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, great apes · **What happens:** select, be, articulate · **To what, where:** principal reason, words, manner

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 17 «How close are apes to us?» 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/17-how-close-are-apes-to-us/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:17-how-close-are-apes-to-us:e4:1
# text = Select the principal reason for which the great apes are unable to articulate words in the manner of humans.
1	Select	select	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	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	apes	ape	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	acl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	articulate	articulate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	humans	human	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **select** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | the great apes |  |  |  |  | for the principal reason; unable *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **articulate** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the great apes *not said here* | words |  | the manner of humans |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=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 -->
They possess no capacity whatsoever for learning, and therefore cannot acquire speech

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:17-how-close-are-apes-to-us:e4:o1:1
# text = They possess no capacity whatsoever for learning, and therefore cannot acquire speech
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	possess	possess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	capacity	capacity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	learning	learning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	acquire	acquire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
14	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | They | no capacity |  |  |  | for learning; whatsoever *property* | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot capacity=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **acquire** | can | They *not said here* | speech |  |  |  | therefore *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset speech=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their throat, tongue and control of breathing are differently constituted

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:17-how-close-are-apes-to-us:e4:o2:1
# text = Their throat, tongue and control of breathing are differently constituted
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	throat	throat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	control	control	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	breathing	breathing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
10	differently	differently	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	constituted	constitute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **constitute** | present · passive |  | Their throat and tongue and control of breathing |  |  |  | differently *property* | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Pivot |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their sense of hearing is wholly absent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:17-how-close-are-apes-to-us:e4:o3:1
# text = Their sense of hearing is wholly absent
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	hearing	hearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	wholly	wholly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	absent	absent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Their sense of hearing |  |  |  |  | absent, wholly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **sense** |  | Their *= they* | hearing |  |  |  |  | nom sense «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They possess no vocal apparatus of any kind

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:17-how-close-are-apes-to-us:e4:o4:1
# text = They possess no vocal apparatus of any kind
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	possess	possess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
4	vocal	vocal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	apparatus	apparatus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | They | no vocal apparatus of any kind |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot apparatus=Theme |

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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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- ← previous: [How close are apes to us?, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/17-how-close-are-apes-to-us/e3/)
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