---
title: Identify the principal cause of the decline of the bald eagle in the… — Conservation: how people help animals… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal cause of the decline of the bald eagle in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. Exam question 1 of lesson 78 «Conservation: how people help animals come back» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question 
---

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# Exam question 1 · Conservation: how people help animals come back

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal cause of the decline of the bald eagle in the United States during the mid-twentieth century.

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 78 «Conservation: how people help animals come back» 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/78-conservation-animals-come-back/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:78-conservation-animals-come-back:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal cause of the decline of the bald eagle in the United States during the mid-twentieth century.
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	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	bald	bald	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	United	United	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	States	State	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
16	during	during	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	mid-twentieth	mid-twentieth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	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 decline of the bald eagle in the United States |  |  | century |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent cause=Theme |
| 2 | **cause** |  |  | the decline of the bald eagle in the United States |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient |
| 3 | **decline** |  | the bald eagle in the United States |  |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
A succession of exceptionally severe winters

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:78-conservation-animals-come-back:e1:o1:1
# text = A succession of exceptionally severe winters
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	succession	succession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	exceptionally	exceptionally	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	severe	severe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	winters	winter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The introduction of rats to their nesting sites

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:78-conservation-animals-come-back:e1:o2:1
# text = The introduction of rats to their nesting sites
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	introduction	introduction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	nesting	nesting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	sites	site	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **introduce** |  |  | rats |  |  |  | to rats's nesting sites | nom introduction «act transitive»: of=patient to=obl |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The accumulation of DDT, which caused the thinning of eggshells

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:78-conservation-animals-come-back:e1:o3:1
# text = The accumulation of DDT, which caused the thinning of eggshells
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	accumulation	accumulation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	DDT	ddt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	caused	cause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	thinning	thinning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	eggshells	eggshell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | past | the accumulation of DDT | the thinning of eggshells |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition thinning=Patient |
| 2 | **accumulate** |  |  | DDT |  |  |  |  | nom accumulation «process transitive»: of=patient |
| 3 | **thin** |  |  | eggshells |  |  |  |  | nom thinning «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Competition for food with the California condor over the western mountains

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:78-conservation-animals-come-back:e1:o4:1
# text = Competition for food with the California condor over the western mountains
1	Competition	competition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	for	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	California	California	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	condor	condor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
8	over	over	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	western	western	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	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.

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