---
title: Ascertain the reason for which mountaineers at very high altitude fr… — The air we breathe · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the reason for which mountaineers at very high altitude frequently carry oxygen. Exam question 4 of lesson 33 «The air we breathe» of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Exam question 4 · The air we breathe

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the reason for which mountaineers at very high altitude frequently carry oxygen.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, reason · **What happens:** ascertain, mountaineer, carry · **To what, where:** reason, high altitude, oxygen

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 33 «The air we breathe» of the chemistry 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/chemistry/33-the-air-we-breathe/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:33-the-air-we-breathe:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the reason for which mountaineers at very high altitude frequently carry oxygen.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	mountaineers	mountaineer	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	very	very	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	altitude	altitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
11	frequently	frequently	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	carry	carry	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
13	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	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 reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **mountaineer** | present | the reason |  |  | high altitude |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **carry** | present | the reason *not said here* | oxygen |  |  |  | frequently *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oxygen=Theme |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The air at altitude is entirely absent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:33-the-air-we-breathe:e4:o1:1
# text = The air at altitude is entirely absent
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	altitude	altitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	absent	absent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the air at altitude |  |  |  |  | absent, entirely *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each breath contains less oxygen in the thinner air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:33-the-air-we-breathe:e4:o2:1
# text = Each breath contains less oxygen in the thinner air
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	contains	contain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	thinner	thin	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	amod	_	_
9	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contain** | present | each breath | less oxygen |  | the thinner air |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent oxygen=Value in air=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The air at altitude is poisonous

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:33-the-air-we-breathe:e4:o3:1
# text = The air at altitude is poisonous
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	altitude	altitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the air at altitude |  |  |  |  | poisonous *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Oxygen freezes at high altitude

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:33-the-air-we-breathe:e4:o4:1
# text = Oxygen freezes at high altitude
1	Oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	freezes	freeze	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	altitude	altitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **freeze** | present | Oxygen |  |  | high altitude |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «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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- ← previous: [The air we breathe, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/33-the-air-we-breathe/e3/)
- next →: [Water: the most amazing liquid, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/34-water-amazing-liquid/t1/)
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