---
title: Ascertain the principal reason for which sea turtles are observed to… — Reef giants and wanderers: whale shark… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal reason for which sea turtles are observed to ingest plastic bags. Exam question 3 of lesson 174 «Reef giants and wanderers: whale sharks, mantas, dugongs and sea turtles» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question a
---

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# Exam question 3 · Reef giants and wanderers: whale sharks, mantas, dugongs a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal reason for which sea turtles are observed to ingest plastic bags.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, observe, ingest · **To what, where:** principal reason, sea turtles, plastic bags

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 174 «Reef giants and wanderers: whale sharks, mantas, dugongs and sea turtles» 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/174-reef-giants-and-wanderers-whale-sharks-mantas-dugongs-and-sea-turtles/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:174-reef-giants-and-wanderers-whale-sharks-mantas-dugongs-and-sea-turtles:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the principal reason for which sea turtles are observed to ingest plastic bags.
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	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obl	_	_
7	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	turtles	turtle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	observed	observe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	ingest	ingest	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	plastic	plastic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	bags	bag	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	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 reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **observe** | present · passive |  | sea turtles |  |  |  | for the principal reason | tree rules |
| 3 | **ingest** | to-infinitive |  | plastic bags |  |  |  |  | vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal bag=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Plastic is a necessary component of their diet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:174-reef-giants-and-wanderers-whale-sharks-mantas-dugongs-and-sea-turtles:e3:o1:1
# text = Plastic is a necessary component of their diet
1	Plastic	plastic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	component	component	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	diet	diet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Plastic | a necessary component |  |  |  | of their diet | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bags are mistaken for jellyfish, upon which certain turtles feed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:174-reef-giants-and-wanderers-whale-sharks-mantas-dugongs-and-sea-turtles:e3:o2:1
# text = The bags are mistaken for jellyfish, upon which certain turtles feed
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bags	bag	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	mistaken	mistaken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	jellyfish	jellyfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obl	_	_
10	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	turtles	turtle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	feed	feed	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feed** | present | certain turtles |  |  |  |  |  | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ingestion occurs exclusively during sleep

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:174-reef-giants-and-wanderers-whale-sharks-mantas-dugongs-and-sea-turtles:e3:o3:1
# text = Ingestion occurs exclusively during sleep
1	Ingestion	ingestion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	occurs	occur	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	during	during	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **occur** | present | Ingestion |  |  |  | during sleep | exclusively *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bags are employed in the construction of nests

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:174-reef-giants-and-wanderers-whale-sharks-mantas-dugongs-and-sea-turtles:e3:o4:1
# text = The bags are employed in the construction of nests
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bags	bag	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	construction	construction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	nests	nest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | present · passive |  | the bags |  | the construction of nests |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **construct** |  |  | nests |  |  |  |  | nom construction «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- div src -->

**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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