---
title: Ascertain the reason for which an owl obtains sufficient water witho… — How owls work: silent wings, turning h… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the reason for which an owl obtains sufficient water without frequent drinking. Exam question 4 of lesson 302 «How owls work: silent wings, turning heads, pellets and owl myths» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of e
---

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# Exam question 4 · How owls work: silent wings, turning heads, pellets and ow…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the reason for which an owl obtains sufficient water without frequent drinking.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, owl · **What happens:** ascertain, obtain · **To what, where:** reason, sufficient water

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 302 «How owls work: silent wings, turning heads, pellets and owl myths» 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/302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the reason for which an owl obtains sufficient water without frequent drinking.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obl	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	obtains	obtain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl	_	_
9	sufficient	sufficient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	without	without	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	frequent	frequent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	drinking	drinking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	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 reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **obtain** | present | a owl | sufficient water |  |  |  | for the reason; without frequent drinking | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent water=Theme for which=Asset |

<!-- .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 -->
Owls drink only once in each season

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:e4:o1:1
# text = Owls drink only once in each season
1	Owls	owl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	drink	drink	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	season	season	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drink** | present | Owls |  |  |  | season | once *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Owls require no water whatever for survival

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:e4:o2:1
# text = Owls require no water whatever for survival
1	Owls	owl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	require	require	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	2	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	survival	survival	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **require** | present | Owls | whatever |  |  |  | for survival | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme whatever=Precondition |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bodies of its prey consist largely of water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:e4:o3:1
# text = The bodies of its prey consist largely of water
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	consist	consist	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	largely	largely	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consist** | present | the bodies of its prey |  |  |  |  | of water; largely *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Owls absorb water through their feathers from the air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:e4:o4:1
# text = Owls absorb water through their feathers from the air
1	Owls	owl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	absorb	absorb	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **absorb** | present | Owls | water |  | Owls's feathers |  | from the air | vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Goal water=Theme from air=Source |

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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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