---
title: Ascertain the principal cause of the greying of hair. — Hair: growing, curly and straight, eye… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal cause of the greying of hair. Exam question 4 of lesson 355 «Hair: growing, curly and straight, eyebrows, eyelashes and going grey» 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 wr
---

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# Exam question 4 · Hair: growing, curly and straight, eyebrows, eyelashes and…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal cause of the greying of hair.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, principal cause · **What happens:** ascertain, grey · **To what, where:** principal cause

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 355 «Hair: growing, curly and straight, eyebrows, eyelashes and going grey» 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/355-hair-growing-curly-and-straight-eyebrows-eyelashes-and-going-grey/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:355-hair-growing-curly-and-straight-eyebrows-eyelashes-and-going-grey:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal cause of the greying of hair.
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	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	greying	grey	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	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 cause |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic |
| 2 | **grey** | gerund | the principal cause *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of hair | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bleaching of the hair by sunlight over decades

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:355-hair-growing-curly-and-straight-eyebrows-eyelashes-and-going-grey:e4:o1:1
# text = The bleaching of the hair by sunlight over decades
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bleaching	bleaching	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	over	over	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	decades	decade	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cessation of the production of melanin by pigment cells in the roots

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:355-hair-growing-curly-and-straight-eyebrows-eyelashes-and-going-grey:e4:o2:1
# text = The cessation of the production of melanin by pigment cells in the roots
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cessation	cessation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	production	production	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	melanin	melanin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	pigment	pigment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	cells	cell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cease** |  | pigment cells | the production of melanin |  | the roots |  |  | nom cessation «event transitive»: of=patient by=agent in=place |
| 2 | **produce** |  |  | melanin |  |  |  |  | nom production «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The accumulation of dust upon the hair

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:355-hair-growing-curly-and-straight-eyebrows-eyelashes-and-going-grey:e4:o3:1
# text = The accumulation of dust upon the hair
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	accumulation	accumulation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accumulate** |  |  | dust |  |  |  | upon the hair | nom accumulation «process transitive»: of=patient upon=obl |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The drying of the hair in consequence of age

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:355-hair-growing-curly-and-straight-eyebrows-eyelashes-and-going-grey:e4:o4:1
# text = The drying of the hair in consequence of age
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	drying	drying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	consequence	consequence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

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

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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.

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- ← previous: [Hair: growing, curly and straight, eye…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/355-hair-growing-curly-and-straight-eyebrows-eyelashes-and-going-grey/e3/)
- next →: [Nails, sweat and smells: smelly feet,…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/356-nails-sweat-and-smells-smelly-feet-armpits-and-bad-breath/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Hair: growing, curly and straight, eyebrows, eyelashes and going grey](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/355-hair-growing-curly-and-straight-eyebrows-eyelashes-and-going-grey/)