---
title: Ascertain the principal cause of the decline of the otter in England… — The real animals of the river bank: th… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal cause of the decline of the otter in England during the 1960s and 1970s. Exam question 3 of lesson 403 «The real animals of the river bank: the water vole, the mole, the otter, the toad and the river birds» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency t
---

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# Exam question 3 · The real animals of the river bank: the water vole, the mo…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal cause of the decline of the otter in England during the 1960s and 1970s.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, otter · **What happens:** ascertain, cause, decline · **To what, where:** principal cause, decline

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 403 «The real animals of the river bank: the water vole, the mole, the otter, the toad and the river birds» 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/403-the-real-animals-of-the-river-bank-water-vole-mole-otter-toad-and-the-river-birds/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:403-the-real-animals-of-the-river-bank-water-vole-mole-otter-toad-and-the-river-birds:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the principal cause of the decline of the otter in England during the 1960s and 1970s.
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	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	otter	otter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	England	England	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	during	during	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	1960s	1960s	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	1	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	1970s	1970s	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	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 cause of the decline of the otter in England |  |  | during the 1960s and 1970s |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic |
| 2 | **cause** |  |  | the decline of the otter in England |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient |
| 3 | **decline** |  | the otter in England |  |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
Competition with the water vole for fish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:403-the-real-animals-of-the-river-bank-water-vole-mole-otter-toad-and-the-river-birds:e3:o1:1
# text = Competition with the water vole for fish
1	Competition	competition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	vole	vole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Poisons used in farming entered the rivers and the fish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:403-the-real-animals-of-the-river-bank-water-vole-mole-otter-toad-and-the-river-birds:e3:o2:1
# text = Poisons used in farming entered the rivers and the fish
1	Poisons	poison	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	farming	farming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	entered	enter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | participle |  | Poisons *not said here* |  | farming |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **enter** | past | Poisons | the rivers and the fish |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme river=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The flooding of every river in the land during the winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:403-the-real-animals-of-the-river-bank-water-vole-mole-otter-toad-and-the-river-birds:e3:o3:1
# text = The flooding of every river in the land during the winter
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	flooding	flooding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	during	during	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flood** |  |  | every river in the land |  |  | during the winter |  | nom flooding «act transitive»: of=patient during=obl |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cutting down of the willows

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:403-the-real-animals-of-the-river-bank-water-vole-mole-otter-toad-and-the-river-birds:e3:o4:1
# text = The cutting down of the willows
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cutting	cutting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	down	down	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	willows	willow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** |  | the willows |  |  |  |  |  | nom cutting «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- 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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