---
title: Ascertain which of the following claims concerning the goldfish is c… — Animals in the sea and the river · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain which of the following claims concerning the goldfish is consistent with experimental findings. Exam question 4 of lesson 11 «Animals in the sea and the river» of the myths course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's c
---

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# Exam question 4 · Animals in the sea and the river

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain which of the following claims concerning the goldfish is consistent with experimental findings.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, concerning · **What happens:** ascertain, follow, concern, be · **To what, where:** following claims, goldfish

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 11 «Animals in the sea and the river» of the myths 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/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river:e4:1
# text = Ascertain which of the following claims concerning the goldfish is consistent with experimental findings.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	amod	_	_
6	claims	claim	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
7	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	csubj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	consistent	consistent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	acl	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	experimental	experimental	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	findings	finding	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	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 following claims |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent claim=Topic |
| 2 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **concern** | gerund |  | the goldfish |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus goldfish=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | present | concerning | the following claims *not said here* |  |  |  | with experimental findings; consistent *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
It is incapable of learning to respond to sounds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river:e4:o1:1
# text = It is incapable of learning to respond to sounds
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	learning	learn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	respond	respond	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	sounds	sound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | incapable *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **learn** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **respond** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to sounds | vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to sound=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It retains memories solely of colours

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river:e4:o2:1
# text = It retains memories solely of colours
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	retains	retain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	memories	memory	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	colours	colour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retain** | present | It | memories |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its memory is limited to a period of approximately three seconds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river:e4:o3:1
# text = Its memory is limited to a period of approximately three seconds
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	limited	limit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	approximately	approximately	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **limit** | present · passive |  | Its memory |  |  |  | to a period of three seconds *goal* | vn limit-76 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Patient to period=Goal |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is capable of retaining learned behaviour for months

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river:e4:o4:1
# text = It is capable of retaining learned behaviour for months
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	capable	capable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	retaining	retain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	learned	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	behaviour	behaviour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | capable *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **retain** | gerund |  | learned behaviour |  |  | month |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **learn** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- div src -->

**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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- next →: [Cats, dogs and animal 'facts' at home, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/12-cats-dogs-and-animal-facts-at-home/t1/)
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