---
title: Ascertain the principal cause of the Great Famine in Ireland commenc… — Britain and Ireland: a short story · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal cause of the Great Famine in Ireland commencing in eighteen hundred and forty-five. Exam question 3 of lesson 37 «Britain and Ireland: a short story» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mo
---

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# Exam question 3 · Britain and Ireland: a short story

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal cause of the Great Famine in Ireland commencing in eighteen hundred and forty-five.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, principal cause · **What happens:** ascertain, commence, cause · **To what, where:** principal cause, eighteen hundred, Great Famine

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 37 «Britain and Ireland: a short story» of the history 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/history/37-britain-and-ireland-a-short-story/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:37-britain-and-ireland-a-short-story:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the principal cause of the Great Famine in Ireland commencing in eighteen hundred and forty-five.
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	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	Great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	Famine	Famine	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	commencing	commence	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
12	in	in	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	eighteen	eighteen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	compound	_	_
14	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	obj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	forty	forty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	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 cause of the Great Famine in Ireland |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic |
| 2 | **commence** | gerund | the principal cause of the Great Famine in Ireland *not said here* | eighteen hundred |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hundred=Eventuality |
| 3 | **cause** |  |  | the Great Famine in Ireland |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
An invasion by the Normans

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:37-britain-and-ireland-a-short-story:e3:o1:1
# text = An invasion by the Normans
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	invasion	invasion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Normans	Norman	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invade** |  | the Normans |  |  |  |  |  | nom invasion «act transitive»: by=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A prolonged drought throughout Europe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:37-britain-and-ireland-a-short-story:e3:o2:1
# text = A prolonged drought throughout Europe
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	prolonged	prolong	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	drought	drought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	throughout	throughout	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Europe	Europe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prolong** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A disease destroying the potato crop

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:37-britain-and-ireland-a-short-story:e3:o3:1
# text = A disease destroying the potato crop
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	disease	disease	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	destroying	destroy	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	potato	potato	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	crop	crop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **destroy** | gerund | a disease *not said here* | the potato crop |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crop=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A great earthquake in Dublin

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:37-britain-and-ireland-a-short-story:e3:o4:1
# text = A great earthquake in Dublin
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	earthquake	earthquake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Dublin	Dublin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	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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