---
title: Ascertain the principal reason for which birds in cities frequently… — City birds: sparrows, starlings, swift… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal reason for which birds in cities frequently sing at a higher pitch or volume. Exam question 4 of lesson 369 «City birds: sparrows, starlings, swifts, crows and peregrines on tall buildings» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatic
---

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# Exam question 4 · City birds: sparrows, starlings, swifts, crows and peregri…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal reason for which birds in cities frequently sing at a higher pitch or volume.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, birds · **What happens:** ascertain, sing · **To what, where:** principal reason, higher pitch

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 369 «City birds: sparrows, starlings, swifts, crows and peregrines on tall buildings» 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/369-city-birds-sparrows-starlings-swifts-crows-and-peregrines-on-tall-buildings/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:369-city-birds-sparrows-starlings-swifts-crows-and-peregrines-on-tall-buildings:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal reason for which birds in cities frequently sing at a higher pitch or volume.
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	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	7	det	_	_
7	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
10	frequently	frequently	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	sing	sing	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	15	amod	_	_
15	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	volume	volume	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	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 reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | present | which birds in cities |  |  | a higher pitch or volume |  | frequently *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at pitch=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
Because city birds consume more sugar

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:369-city-birds-sparrows-starlings-swifts-crows-and-peregrines-on-tall-buildings:e4:o1:1
# text = Because city birds consume more sugar
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	consume	consume	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	sugar	sugar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consume** | present | city birds | more sugar |  |  |  |  | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sugar=Asset |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the air of cities is thinner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:369-city-birds-sparrows-starlings-swifts-crows-and-peregrines-on-tall-buildings:e4:o2:1
# text = Because the air of cities is thinner
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	thinner	thin	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the air of cities |  |  |  |  | thin *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because city birds are deaf

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:369-city-birds-sparrows-starlings-swifts-crows-and-peregrines-on-tall-buildings:e4:o3:1
# text = Because city birds are deaf
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	deaf	deaf	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | city birds |  |  |  |  | deaf *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To be heard above the noise of traffic

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:369-city-birds-sparrows-starlings-swifts-crows-and-peregrines-on-tall-buildings:e4:o4:1
# text = To be heard above the noise of traffic
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
2	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	above	above	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	traffic	traffic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  | the noise of traffic |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus» |
| 2 | **noise** |  | traffic |  |  |  |  |  | nom noise «event intransitive»: of=agent |

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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: [City birds: sparrows, starlings, swift…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/369-city-birds-sparrows-starlings-swifts-crows-and-peregrines-on-tall-buildings/e3/)
- next →: [Minibeasts in the house: house spiders…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t1/)
- ↑ back to [City birds: sparrows, starlings, swifts, crows and peregrines on tall buildings](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/369-city-birds-sparrows-starlings-swifts-crows-and-peregrines-on-tall-buildings/)