---
title: Identify the principal cause of coral bleaching. — Coral reefs, rockpools and the seashore · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal cause of coral bleaching. Exam question 2 of lesson 9 «Coral reefs, rockpools and the seashore» 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 wrong.
---

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# Exam question 2 · Coral reefs, rockpools and the seashore

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal cause of coral bleaching.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, cause · **To what, where:** principal cause, coral bleaching

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 9 «Coral reefs, rockpools and the seashore» 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/9-coral-reefs-rockpools-and-the-seashore/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:9-coral-reefs-rockpools-and-the-seashore:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal cause of coral bleaching.
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	coral	coral	NOUN	NN	_	7	compound	_	_
7	bleaching	bleaching	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	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 coral bleaching |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent cause=Theme |
| 2 | **cause** |  |  | coral bleaching |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event 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 -->
The onset of winter in tropical seas

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:9-coral-reefs-rockpools-and-the-seashore:e2:o1:1
# text = The onset of winter in tropical seas
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	onset	onset	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	tropical	tropical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	seas	sea	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 application of paint by divers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:9-coral-reefs-rockpools-and-the-seashore:e2:o2:1
# text = The application of paint by divers
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	application	application	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	paint	paint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	divers	diver	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Excessive cleaning by parrotfish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:9-coral-reefs-rockpools-and-the-seashore:e2:o3:1
# text = Excessive cleaning by parrotfish
1	Excessive	excessive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	cleaning	cleaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	parrotfish	parrotfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clean** |  | parrotfish |  |  |  |  |  | nom cleaning «act intransitive»: by=agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Elevated sea temperatures induce corals to expel the algae resident within their tissues

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:9-coral-reefs-rockpools-and-the-seashore:e2:o4:1
# text = Elevated sea temperatures induce corals to expel the algae resident within their tissues
1	Elevated	elevate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
2	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	temperatures	temperature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	induce	induce	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	corals	coral	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	expel	expel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	algae	algae	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	resident	resident	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	within	within	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	tissues	tissue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **elevate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **induce** | present | Elevated sea temperatures | corals |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent coral=Patient |
| 3 | **expel** | to-infinitive | Elevated sea temperatures *not said here* | the algae resident |  |  |  | within temperatures's tissues | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent resident=Theme |

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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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- ← previous: [Coral reefs, rockpools and the seashore, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/9-coral-reefs-rockpools-and-the-seashore/e1/)
- next →: [Coral reefs, rockpools and the seashore, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/9-coral-reefs-rockpools-and-the-seashore/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Coral reefs, rockpools and the seashore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/9-coral-reefs-rockpools-and-the-seashore/)