---
title: Ascertain the principal consequence of the decline of vultures in In… — Falcons, hawks, kites, ospreys and vul… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal consequence of the decline of vultures in India. Exam question 4 of lesson 324 «Falcons, hawks, kites, ospreys and vultures» 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 wrong.
---

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# Exam question 4 · Falcons, hawks, kites, ospreys and vultures

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal consequence of the decline of vultures in India.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, vultures · **What happens:** ascertain, decline · **To what, where:** principal consequence

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 324 «Falcons, hawks, kites, ospreys and vultures» 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/324-falcons-hawks-kites-ospreys-and-vultures/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:324-falcons-hawks-kites-ospreys-and-vultures:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal consequence of the decline of vultures in India.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	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	consequence	consequence	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	decline	decline	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	vultures	vulture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	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 principal consequence of the decline of vultures in India |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent consequence=Topic |
| 2 | **decline** |  | vultures in India |  |  |  |  |  | nom decline «process intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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 countryside became cleaner than before, carcasses being removed more swiftly by rain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:324-falcons-hawks-kites-ospreys-and-vultures:e4:o1:1
# text = The countryside became cleaner than before, carcasses being removed more swiftly by rain
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	countryside	countryside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	cleaner	clean	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	before	before	ADV	RB	_	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	carcasses	carcass	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	removed	remove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
11	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	12	advmod	_	_
12	swiftly	swiftly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past | the countryside |  |  |  |  | clean *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **remove** | present · passive | rain |  |  |  |  | swiftly *property* | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cattle ceased to require any medicine

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:324-falcons-hawks-kites-ospreys-and-vultures:e4:o2:1
# text = Cattle ceased to require any medicine
1	Cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	ceased	cease	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	require	require	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	medicine	medicine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cease** | participle |  | Cattle *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **require** | to-infinitive |  | any medicine |  |  |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme medicine=Precondition |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Carcasses remained unconsumed and the numbers of rats and stray dogs increased

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:324-falcons-hawks-kites-ospreys-and-vultures:e4:o3:1
# text = Carcasses remained unconsumed and the numbers of rats and stray dogs increased
1	Carcasses	carcass	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	remained	remain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	unconsumed	unconsum	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	stray	stray	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
12	increased	increase	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **unconsum** | past · passive |  | Carcasses |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **increase** | participle | the numbers of rats and stray dogs |  |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lions assumed the role of the vultures

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:324-falcons-hawks-kites-ospreys-and-vultures:e4:o4:1
# text = Lions assumed the role of the vultures
1	Lions	lion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	assumed	assume	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	role	role	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	vultures	vulture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **assume** | past | Lions | the role of the vultures |  |  |  |  | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent role=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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- ← previous: [Falcons, hawks, kites, ospreys and vul…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/324-falcons-hawks-kites-ospreys-and-vultures/e3/)
- next →: [Choosing a pet: the questions to ask f…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/325-choosing-a-pet-the-questions-to-ask-first/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Falcons, hawks, kites, ospreys and vultures](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/324-falcons-hawks-kites-ospreys-and-vultures/)