---
title: Identify the principal cause of the extinction of the dodo upon the… — Endangered animals and extinction · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal cause of the extinction of the dodo upon the island of Mauritius. Exam question 1 of lesson 77 «Endangered animals and extinction» 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 wron
---

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# Exam question 1 · Endangered animals and extinction

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal cause of the extinction of the dodo upon the island of Mauritius.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, cause, extinguish · **To what, where:** principal cause, extinction, dodo

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 77 «Endangered animals and extinction» 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/77-endangered-animals-and-extinction/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:77-endangered-animals-and-extinction:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal cause of the extinction of the dodo upon the island of Mauritius.
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	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	extinction	extinction	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	dodo	dodo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Mauritius	Mauritius	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	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 cause of the extinction of the dodo |  |  |  | upon the island of Mauritius | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent cause=Theme |
| 2 | **cause** |  |  | the extinction of the dodo |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient |
| 3 | **extinguish** |  |  | the dodo |  |  |  |  | nom extinction «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
A severe winter which froze the island

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:77-endangered-animals-and-extinction:e1:o1:1
# text = A severe winter which froze the island
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	severe	severe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	froze	freeze	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **freeze** | past | a severe winter | the island |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient island=Result |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its own lack of intelligence, which prevented it from finding sufficient food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:77-endangered-animals-and-extinction:e1:o2:1
# text = Its own lack of intelligence, which prevented it from finding sufficient food
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	lack	lack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	intelligence	intelligence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	prevented	prevent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	finding	find	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
12	sufficient	sufficient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prevent** | past | Its own lack of intelligence | intelligence |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer it=Theme |
| 2 | **find** | gerund | Its own lack of intelligence *not said here* | sufficient food |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Topic |
| 3 | **lack** |  | Its *= it* | intelligence |  |  |  |  | nom lack «state transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The predation of its eggs by animals introduced by ships, and hunting

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:77-endangered-animals-and-extinction:e1:o3:1
# text = The predation of its eggs by animals introduced by ships, and hunting
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	predation	predation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
8	introduced	introduce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **introduce** | participle |  | animals *not said here* |  |  |  | by ships | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **predate** |  |  | its eggs by animals |  |  |  |  | nom predation «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An eruption of a volcano which covered the island

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:77-endangered-animals-and-extinction:e1:o4:1
# text = An eruption of a volcano which covered the island
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eruption	eruption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	volcano	volcano	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	covered	cover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | past | a eruption of a volcano | the island |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme island=Destination |
| 2 | **erupt** |  | a volcano |  |  |  |  |  | nom eruption «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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