---
title: Identify the principal function of the vivid colouration exhibited b… — How animals defend themselves · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal function of the vivid colouration exhibited by wild poison dart frogs. Exam question 1 of lesson 53 «How animals defend themselves» 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 wro
---

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# Exam question 1 · How animals defend themselves

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal function of the vivid colouration exhibited by wild poison dart frogs.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, exhibit · **To what, where:** principal function, vivid colouration

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 53 «How animals defend themselves» 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/53-how-animals-defend-themselves/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal function of the vivid colouration exhibited by wild poison dart frogs.
1	Identify	identify	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	function	function	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	vivid	vivid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	colouration	colouration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	exhibited	exhibit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
12	poison	poison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	dart	dart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	frogs	frog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal function of the vivid colouration |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme |
| 2 | **exhibit** | participle |  | the vivid colouration *not said here* |  |  |  | by wild dart frogs | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=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 -->
It attracts insect prey within reach of the tongue

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:e1:o1:1
# text = It attracts insect prey within reach of the tongue
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	attracts	attract	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	insect	insect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	within	within	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	reach	reach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **attract** | present | It | insect prey |  |  |  | within reach of the tongue | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prey=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It serves as a warning of toxicity to would-be predators

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:e1:o2:1
# text = It serves as a warning of toxicity to would-be predators
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	serves	serve	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	warning	warning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	toxicity	toxicity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	cop	_	_
12	predators	predator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **serve** | present | It |  |  |  |  | as a warning of toxicity | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as warning=Attribute |
| 2 | **is a** | would |  | predators |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **warn** |  |  | toxicity |  |  |  |  | nom warning «communication transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It affords camouflage among the blossoms of the tropical forest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:e1:o3:1
# text = It affords camouflage among the blossoms of the tropical forest
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	affords	afford	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	camouflage	camouflage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	among	among	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	blossoms	blossom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	tropical	tropical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **afford** | present | It | camouflage |  |  |  | among the blossoms of the tropical forest | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It regulates the temperature of the skin

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:e1:o4:1
# text = It regulates the temperature of the skin
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	regulates	regulate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	temperature	temperature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **regulate** | present | It | the temperature of the skin |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- 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: [How animals defend themselves, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/53-how-animals-defend-themselves/t12/)
- next →: [How animals defend themselves, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/53-how-animals-defend-themselves/e2/)
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