---
title: How could scientists tell the colour of Borealopelta? — Horns, frills, plates and clubs: Trice… · tree and pragmatics
description: How could scientists tell the colour of Borealopelta? Test 10 of lesson 267 «Horns, frills, plates and clubs: Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus and the duck-bills» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's 
---

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# Test 10 · Horns, frills, plates and clubs: Triceratops, Stegosaurus,…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How could scientists tell the colour of Borealopelta?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** scientists · **What happens:** tell · **To what, where:** colour · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 10 of lesson 267 «Horns, frills, plates and clubs: Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus and the duck-bills» 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/267-horns-frills-plates-and-clubs/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:267-horns-frills-plates-and-clubs:t10:1
# text = How could scientists tell the colour of Borealopelta?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Borealopelta	Borealopelta	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | scientists | the colour of Borealopelta |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent colour=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
From a painting made by people at the time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:267-horns-frills-plates-and-clubs:t10:o1:1
# text = From a painting made by people at the time
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	painting	painting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:agent	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | participle |  | a painting *not said here* |  |  | time |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By guessing from the colours in an old cartoon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:267-horns-frills-plates-and-clubs:t10:o2:1
# text = By guessing from the colours in an old cartoon
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	guessing	guess	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	colours	colour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guess** | gerund |  |  |  | the colours |  | in a old cartoon | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
From the colour of the rock it was found in

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:267-horns-frills-plates-and-clubs:t10:o3:1
# text = From the colour of the rock it was found in
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl:relcl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find in** | past · passive | the colour of the rock *not said here* | rock |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
From tiny traces of colour kept in its fossil skin

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:267-horns-frills-plates-and-clubs:t10:o4:1
# text = From tiny traces of colour kept in its fossil skin
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	traces	trace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
9	fossil	fossil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | participle |  | tiny traces of colour *not said here* |  | colour's fossil skin |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in skin=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.

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- ← previous: [Horns, frills, plates and clubs: Trice…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/267-horns-frills-plates-and-clubs/t9/)
- next →: [Horns, frills, plates and clubs: Trice…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/267-horns-frills-plates-and-clubs/t11/)
- ↑ back to [Horns, frills, plates and clubs: Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus and the duck-bills](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/267-horns-frills-plates-and-clubs/)