---
title: Identify the principal cause of the extinction of the dodo. — Extinct forever: the dodo, the passeng… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal cause of the extinction of the dodo. Exam question 1 of lesson 281 «Extinct forever: the dodo, the passenger pigeon, the thylacine and more» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choic
---

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# Exam question 1 · Extinct forever: the dodo, the passenger pigeon, the thyla…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal cause of the extinction of the dodo.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, cause, extinguish · **To what, where:** principal cause, extinction, dodo

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 281 «Extinct forever: the dodo, the passenger pigeon, the thylacine and more» 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/281-extinct-forever-the-dodo-the-passenger-pigeon-the-thylacine-and-more/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:281-extinct-forever-the-dodo-the-passenger-pigeon-the-thylacine-and-more:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal cause of the extinction of the dodo.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	extinction	extinction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	dodo	dodo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal cause of the extinction of the dodo |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent cause=Theme |
| 2 | **cause** |  |  | the extinction of the dodo |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient |
| 3 | **extinguish** |  |  | the dodo |  |  |  |  | nom extinction «state 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A failure to adapt to cold climates

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:281-extinct-forever-the-dodo-the-passenger-pigeon-the-thylacine-and-more:e1:o1:1
# text = A failure to adapt to cold climates
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	failure	failure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	adapt	adapt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	acl	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	climates	climate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **adapt** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to cold climates *goal* | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent to climate=Goal |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An innate deficiency of intelligence, which prevented it from obtaining sufficient food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:281-extinct-forever-the-dodo-the-passenger-pigeon-the-thylacine-and-more:e1:o2:1
# text = An innate deficiency of intelligence, which prevented it from obtaining sufficient food
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	innate	innate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	deficiency	deficiency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	intelligence	intelligence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	prevented	prevent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	obtaining	obtain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
12	sufficient	sufficient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prevent** | past | a innate deficiency of intelligence | intelligence |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer it=Theme |
| 2 | **obtain** | gerund | a innate deficiency of intelligence *not said here* | sufficient food |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset food=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A volcanic eruption upon Mauritius

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:281-extinct-forever-the-dodo-the-passenger-pigeon-the-thylacine-and-more:e1:o3:1
# text = A volcanic eruption upon Mauritius
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	eruption	eruption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Mauritius	Mauritius	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The arrival of people together with rats, pigs and monkeys introduced to its island

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:281-extinct-forever-the-dodo-the-passenger-pigeon-the-thylacine-and-more:e1:o4:1
# text = The arrival of people together with rats, pigs and monkeys introduced to its island
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	arrival	arrival	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	together	together	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	pigs	pig	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	monkeys	monkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
12	introduced	introduce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **introduce** | participle |  | rats and pigs and monkeys *not said here* |  |  |  | to arrival's island | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent to island=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **arrive** |  | people with rats and pigs and monkeys |  |  |  |  |  | nom arrival «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- 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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- next →: [Extinct forever: the dodo, the passeng…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/281-extinct-forever-the-dodo-the-passenger-pigeon-the-thylacine-and-more/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Extinct forever: the dodo, the passenger pigeon, the thylacine and more](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/281-extinct-forever-the-dodo-the-passenger-pigeon-the-thylacine-and-more/)