---
title: Ascertain the course of action appropriate upon the discovery of an… — Dolphins, porpoises and seals · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the course of action appropriate upon the discovery of an unaccompanied seal pup upon a beach. Exam question 3 of lesson 27 «Dolphins, porpoises and seals» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's cho
---

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# Exam question 3 · Dolphins, porpoises and seals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the course of action appropriate upon the discovery of an unaccompanied seal pup upon a beach.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, discover · **To what, where:** course, unaccompanied seal pup

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 27 «Dolphins, porpoises and seals» 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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the course of action appropriate upon the discovery of an unaccompanied seal pup upon a beach.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
7	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	discovery	discovery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	unaccompanied	unaccompanied	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
13	seal	seal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	pup	pup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
15	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	beach	beach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	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 course of action |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Topic |
| 2 | **discover** |  |  | a unaccompanied seal pup upon a beach |  |  |  |  | nom discovery «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
Remain at a distance and notify a wildlife rescue if it appears injured

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals:e3:o1:1
# text = Remain at a distance and notify a wildlife rescue if it appears injured
1	Remain	remain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	notify	notify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	wildlife	wildlife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	rescue	rescue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	appears	appear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
13	injured	injure	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remain** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at a distance | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at distance=Location |
| 2 | **notify** *speech: other* | infinitive | you *not said here* | a wildlife rescue |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent rescue=Recipient |
| 3 | **appear** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **injure** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Feed it with cow's milk

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals:e3:o2:1
# text = Feed it with cow's milk
1	Feed	feed	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feed** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | with cow's milk | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Convey it forthwith to the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals:e3:o3:1
# text = Convey it forthwith to the sea
1	Convey	convey	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	forthwith	forthwith	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	xcomp	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **convey** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | forthwith *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Remove it to a private dwelling

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals:e3:o4:1
# text = Remove it to a private dwelling
1	Remove	remove	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	private	private	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	dwelling	dwelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remove** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  | a private dwelling |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to dwelling=Destination |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Dolphins, porpoises and seals, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/e2/)
- next →: [Dolphins, porpoises and seals, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Dolphins, porpoises and seals](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/)