---
title: Ascertain the direction in which the tail flukes of a whale are move… — Whales · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the direction in which the tail flukes of a whale are moved in swimming. Exam question 3 of lesson 26 «Whales» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/26-whales/e3/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [Whales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/26-whales/) / e3

# Exam question 3 · Whales

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the direction in which the tail flukes of a whale are moved in swimming.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, move · **To what, where:** direction, tail flukes

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 26 «Whales» 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/26-whales/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the direction in which the tail flukes of a whale are moved in swimming.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	flukes	fluke	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	moved	move	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl:relcl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	swimming	swimming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	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 direction |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent direction=Topic |
| 2 | **move** | present · passive |  | the tail flukes of a whale |  | the direction |  | in swimming | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.agent V NP.theme PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: subject=Theme in which=Source in swimming=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Vertically, that is, up and down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:e3:o1:1
# text = Vertically, that is, up and down
1	Vertically	vertically	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	up	up	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	down	down	ADV	RB	_	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | up, vertically *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a circular motion

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:e3:o2:1
# text = In a circular motion
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	circular	circular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	motion	motion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are held motionless

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:e3:o3:1
# text = They are held motionless
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	motionless	motionless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | present · passive |  | They |  |  |  | motionless *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Laterally, that is, side to side

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:e3:o4:1
# text = Laterally, that is, side to side
1	Laterally	laterally	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | that | side |  |  |  | to side; laterally *property* | tree rules |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Whales, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/26-whales/e2/)
- next →: [Whales, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/26-whales/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Whales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/26-whales/)