---
title: If a zoo polar bear's fur turned green, what is the likely reason? — Bears · tree and pragmatics
description: If a zoo polar bear's fur turned green, what is the likely reason? Test 5 of lesson 23 «Bears» 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 5 · Bears

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If a zoo polar bear's fur turned green, what is the likely reason?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** fur · **What happens:** turn, be · **To what, where:** likely reason

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 23 «Bears» 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/23-bears/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:23-bears:t5:1
# text = If a zoo polar bear's fur turned green, what is the likely reason?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	zoo	zoo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	polar	polar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	fur	fur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
9	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a polar bear's fur |  |  |  |  | green *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | the likely reason |  |  |  |  | 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its skin changed colour from the terrible cold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:23-bears:t5:o1:1
# text = Its skin changed colour from the terrible cold
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	cold	cold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | participle | Its skin | colour |  | the terrible cold |  |  | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.material PP.result»: agent=Agent colour=Patient from cold=Initial\_State |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It ate too much spinach

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:23-bears:t5:o2:1
# text = It ate too much spinach
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	spinach	spinach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past | It | much spinach |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spinach=Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tiny algae grew inside its hollow hairs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:23-bears:t5:o3:1
# text = Tiny algae grew inside its hollow hairs
1	Tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	algae	alga	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	hollow	hollow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	hairs	hair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | Tiny algae |  |  | its hollow hairs |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme inside hair=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Someone painted it as a joke

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:23-bears:t5:o4:1
# text = Someone painted it as a joke
1	Someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	nsubj	_	_
2	painted	paint	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **paint** | past | Someone | it |  |  |  | as a joke | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent it=Theme as joke=Attribute |

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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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