---
title: Ascertain the cause of the pink colouration of the flamingo. — Birds of every kind: penguins, ostrich… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the cause of the pink colouration of the flamingo. Exam question 3 of lesson 35 «Birds of every kind: penguins, ostriches, parrots, hummingbirds, songbirds, crows» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mo
---

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# Exam question 3 · Birds of every kind: penguins, ostriches, parrots, humming…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the cause of the pink colouration of the flamingo.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, cause · **To what, where:** cause, pink colouration

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 35 «Birds of every kind: penguins, ostriches, parrots, hummingbirds, songbirds, crows» 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/35-birds-of-every-kind/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:35-birds-of-every-kind:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the cause of the pink colouration of the flamingo.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	pink	pink	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	colouration	colouration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	flamingo	flamingo	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 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the cause of the pink colouration of the flamingo |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic |
| 2 | **cause** |  |  | the pink colouration of the flamingo |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event 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 pigment present from hatching irrespective of diet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:35-birds-of-every-kind:e3:o1:1
# text = A pigment present from hatching irrespective of diet
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	pigment	pigment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	hatching	hatch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
6	irrespective	irrespective	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	diet	diet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hatch** | gerund | a pigment present *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of diet; irrespective *property* | vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.patient V PP.product»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Exposure to strong sunlight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:35-birds-of-every-kind:e3:o2:1
# text = Exposure to strong sunlight
1	Exposure	exposure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The colour of the warm pink water in which it stands to feed all day

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:35-birds-of-every-kind:e3:o3:1
# text = The colour of the warm pink water in which it stands to feed all day
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	pink	pink	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	stands	stand	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	feed	feed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
15	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | present | water |  |  | the colour of the warm pink water |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **feed** | to-infinitive | water *not said here* |  |  |  | day |  | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pigments obtained from its diet of algae and brine shrimp

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:35-birds-of-every-kind:e3:o4:1
# text = Pigments obtained from its diet of algae and brine shrimp
1	Pigments	pigment	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	obtained	obtain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
3	from	from	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	diet	diet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	algae	alga	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	brine	brine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	shrimp	shrimp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **obtain** | participle |  | Pigments *not said here* |  | its diet of algae and brine shrimp |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from diet=Source |

<!-- 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: [Birds of every kind: penguins, ostrich…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/35-birds-of-every-kind/e2/)
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