---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — "How do you know?" · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the cause of the common cold? Exam question 4 of lesson 186 «"How do you know?"» of the world 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 · "How do you know?"

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the cause of the common cold?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** follow, characteris, cause · **To what, where:** cause, common cold

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 186 «"How do you know?"» of the world 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/world/186-how-do-you-know/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:186-how-do-you-know:e4:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the cause of the common cold?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	cold	cold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the cause of the common cold |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **cause** |  |  | the common cold |  |  |  |  | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is caused by viruses transmitted from other persons

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:186-how-do-you-know:e4:o1:1
# text = It is caused by viruses transmitted from other persons
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	viruses	virus	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
6	transmitted	transmit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | present · passive | viruses | It |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient |
| 2 | **transmit** | participle |  | viruses *not said here* |  |  |  | from other persons | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent from person=Initial\_Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is caused by going outdoors with wet hair

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:186-how-do-you-know:e4:o2:1
# text = It is caused by going outdoors with wet hair
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	outdoors	outdoors	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	wet	wet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **go** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with wet hair; outdoors *property* | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with hair=Beneficiary |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is caused by cold weather alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:186-how-do-you-know:e4:o3:1
# text = It is caused by cold weather alone
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	weather	weather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | present · passive | cold weather | It |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is caused by the consumption of ice cream

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:186-how-do-you-know:e4:o4:1
# text = It is caused by the consumption of ice cream
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	consumption	consumption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	cream	cream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | present · passive | the consumption of ice cream | It |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient |
| 2 | **consume** |  |  | ice cream |  |  |  |  | nom consumption «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- 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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- ← previous: ["How do you know?", exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/186-how-do-you-know/e3/)
- next →: [One counterexample is enough, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/187-one-counterexample-is-enough/t1/)
- ↑ back to ["How do you know?"](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/186-how-do-you-know/)