---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Evolution: why giraffes really have lo… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the loss of eyes in Mexican cave fish? Exam question 4 of lesson 278 «Evolution: why giraffes really have long necks» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each op
---

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# Exam question 4 · Evolution: why giraffes really have long necks

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the loss of eyes in Mexican cave fish?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** loss

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 278 «Evolution: why giraffes really have long necks» 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/278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks:e4:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the loss of eyes in Mexican cave fish?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	Mexican	Mexican	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
15	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the loss of eyes in Mexican cave fish |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The eyes were removed by predatory creatures

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks:e4:o1:1
# text = The eyes were removed by predatory creatures
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	removed	remove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	predatory	predatory	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	creatures	creature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remove** | past · passive | predatory creatures | the eyes |  |  |  |  | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Eyes, being costly and useless in darkness, diminished over many generations

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks:e4:o2:1
# text = Eyes, being costly and useless in darkness, diminished over many generations
1	Eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	cop	_	_
4	costly	costly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	diminished	diminish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
11	over	over	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	generations	generation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | gerund | Eyes |  |  |  |  | costly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Eyes *not said here* |  |  | darkness |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **diminish** | participle | Eyes *not said here* |  |  |  | over many generations |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fish were born without eyes in a single generation

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks:e4:o3:1
# text = The fish were born without eyes in a single generation
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	without	without	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	generation	generation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | past · passive |  | the fish |  |  | in a single generation | without eyes | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each individual fish elected to discard its eyes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks:e4:o4:1
# text = Each individual fish elected to discard its eyes
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	det	_	_
2	individual	individual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	elected	elect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	discard	discard	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **elect** | participle |  | each individual fish *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **discard** | to-infinitive |  | fish's eyes |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=Theme |

<!-- 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 -->

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