---
title: Ascertain the principal reason for which the blood of the Antarctic… — Antarctica: penguins, seals and the co… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal reason for which the blood of the Antarctic icefish is almost colourless. Exam question 4 of lesson 7 «Antarctica: penguins, seals and the coldest place on Earth» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of ea
---

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# Exam question 4 · Antarctica: penguins, seals and the coldest place on Earth

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal reason for which the blood of the Antarctic icefish is almost colourless.

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 7 «Antarctica: penguins, seals and the coldest place on Earth» 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/7-antarctica/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:7-antarctica:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal reason for which the blood of the Antarctic icefish is almost colourless.
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	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	Antarctic	antarctic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	icefish	icefish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	colourless	colourless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	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 | **is** | present | the blood of the Antarctic icefish |  |  |  |  | for the principal reason; almost, colourless *property* | 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The icefish possesses no blood whatsoever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:7-antarctica:e4:o1:1
# text = The icefish possesses no blood whatsoever
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	icefish	icefish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	possesses	possess	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | the icefish | no blood |  |  |  | whatsoever *property* | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot blood=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The blood of the icefish consists of seawater

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:7-antarctica:e4:o2:1
# text = The blood of the icefish consists of seawater
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	icefish	icefish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	consists	consist	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	seawater	seawater	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consist** | present | the blood of the icefish |  |  |  |  | of seawater | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The blood of the icefish is permanently frozen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:7-antarctica:e4:o3:1
# text = The blood of the icefish is permanently frozen
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	icefish	icefish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
7	permanently	permanently	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	frozen	freeze	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **freeze** | present · passive |  | the blood of the icefish |  |  |  | permanently *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The icefish possesses no red blood cells, the cold water furnishing sufficient dissolved oxygen

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:7-antarctica:e4:o4:1
# text = The icefish possesses no red blood cells, the cold water furnishing sufficient dissolved oxygen
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	icefish	icefish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	possesses	possess	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	det	_	_
5	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	cells	cell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
12	furnishing	furnish	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	acl	_	_
13	sufficient	sufficient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	dissolved	dissolve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	amod	_	_
15	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | the icefish | no red blood cells  the cold water |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot cell=Theme |
| 2 | **furnish** | gerund | the cold water *not said here* | sufficient dissolved oxygen |  |  |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oxygen=Recipient |
| 3 | **dissolve** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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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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