---
title: Ascertain the principal cause of the decline of the Chinese sturgeon… — China's great rivers: the finless porp… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal cause of the decline of the Chinese sturgeon, as presented in this lesson. Exam question 4 of lesson 379 «China's great rivers: the finless porpoise, the lost baiji, Chinese alligators and sturgeon» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and 
---

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# Exam question 4 · China's great rivers: the finless porpoise, the lost baiji…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal cause of the decline of the Chinese sturgeon, as presented in this lesson.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, Chinese sturgeon · **What happens:** ascertain, present, cause, decline · **To what, where:** principal cause, lesson, decline

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 379 «China's great rivers: the finless porpoise, the lost baiji, Chinese alligators and sturgeon» 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/379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal cause of the decline of the Chinese sturgeon, as presented in this lesson.
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	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	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	sturgeon	sturgeon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	presented	present	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	parataxis	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	det	_	_
17	lesson	lesson	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	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 cause of the decline of the Chinese sturgeon |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic |
| 2 | **present** | participle |  |  |  | this lesson |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **cause** |  |  | the decline of the Chinese sturgeon |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient |
| 4 | **decline** |  | the Chinese sturgeon |  |  |  |  |  | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Excessive freshness of sea water at the mouth of the Yangtze

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon:e4:o1:1
# text = Excessive freshness of sea water at the mouth of the Yangtze
1	Excessive	excessive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	freshness	freshness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Yangtze	Yangtze	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Predation by finless porpoises

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon:e4:o2:1
# text = Predation by finless porpoises
1	Predation	predation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	by	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	finless	finless	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	porpoises	porpoise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **predate** |  | finless porpoises |  |  |  |  |  | nom predation «act transitive»: by=agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dams obstruct its access to its former spawning grounds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon:e4:o3:1
# text = Dams obstruct its access to its former spawning grounds
1	Dams	dam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	obstruct	obstruct	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	access	access	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
7	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	spawning	spawning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	grounds	grounds	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **obstruct** | present | Dams | its access |  |  |  | to access's former spawning grounds | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer access=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A deficiency of salt in its diet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon:e4:o4:1
# text = A deficiency of salt in its diet
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	deficiency	deficiency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	diet	diet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	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.

<!-- /div -->

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