---
title: How do scientists know the colour of Microraptor's feathers? — Raptors: the real Velociraptor, claws,… · tree and pragmatics
description: How do scientists know the colour of Microraptor's feathers? Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 268 «Raptors: the real Velociraptor, claws, feathers and film mistakes» 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 wr
---

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# Test 11 · ★★ · Raptors: the real Velociraptor, claws, feathers and film m…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How do scientists know the colour of Microraptor's feathers?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 268 «Raptors: the real Velociraptor, claws, feathers and film mistakes» 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/268-raptors-the-real-velociraptor/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:268-raptors-the-real-velociraptor:t11:1
# text = How do scientists know the colour of Microraptor's feathers?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	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	_	10	case	_	_
8	Microraptor	Microraptor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present · do-support | scientists | the colour of Microraptor's feathers |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer colour=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 the colour of the rock that the fossil lay in

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:268-raptors-the-real-velociraptor:t11:o1:1
# text = From the colour of the rock that the fossil lay 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	10	obl	_	_
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	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	fossil	fossil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	in	in	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie in** | past | the fossil |  |  | the colour of the rock |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They just guessed it from an old cartoon on the television

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:268-raptors-the-real-velociraptor:t11:o2:1
# text = They just guessed it from an old cartoon on the television
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	just	just	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	guessed	guess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	television	television	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guess** | past | They | it |  | a old cartoon |  | on the television | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
From a photo that someone took of it at the time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:268-raptors-the-real-velociraptor:t11:o3:1
# text = From a photo that someone took of it at the time
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	photo	photo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
5	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	nsubj	_	_
6	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | a photo |  |  |  | time | of photo | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent of it=Initial\_Location |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
From tiny shapes in the fossil feathers that hold colour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:268-raptors-the-real-velociraptor:t11:o4:1
# text = From tiny shapes in the fossil feathers that hold colour
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	shapes	shape	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	fossil	fossil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	hold	hold	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | present | the fossil feathers | colour |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colour=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: [Raptors: the real Velociraptor, claws,…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/268-raptors-the-real-velociraptor/t10/)
- next →: [Raptors: the real Velociraptor, claws,…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/268-raptors-the-real-velociraptor/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Raptors: the real Velociraptor, claws, feathers and film mistakes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/268-raptors-the-real-velociraptor/)