---
title: Whereas a predator disappears from a habitat, determine the usual co… — Balance in a food web · tree and pragmatics
description: Whereas a predator disappears from a habitat, determine the usual consequence for its prey. Exam question 3 of lesson 30 «Balance in a food web» 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 wrong.
---

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# Exam question 3 · Balance in a food web

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whereas a predator disappears from a habitat, determine the usual consequence for its prey.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** predator, you · **What happens:** disappear, determine · **To what, where:** habitat, usual consequence

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 30 «Balance in a food web» 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/30-balance-in-food-webs/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:e3:1
# text = Whereas a predator disappears from a habitat, determine the usual consequence for its prey.
1	Whereas	whereas	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	predator	predator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	disappears	disappear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	habitat	habitat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
9	determine	determine	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	consequence	consequence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **disappear** | present | a predator |  |  | a habitat |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme from habitat=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **determine** | imperative | you *not said here* | the usual consequence |  |  |  | for predator's prey | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent consequence=Topic |

<!-- .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 prey usually declines in number

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:e3:o1:1
# text = The prey usually declines in number
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	declines	decline	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decline in** | present | the prey | number |  |  |  | usually *property* | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Theme |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The prey usually increases in number

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:e3:o2:1
# text = The prey usually increases in number
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	increases	increase	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **increase in** | present | the prey | number |  |  |  | usually *property* | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer number=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The prey usually departs the habitat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:e3:o3:1
# text = The prey usually departs the habitat
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	departs	depart	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	habitat	habitat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **depart** | present | the prey | the habitat |  |  |  | usually *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme habitat=Initial\_Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The prey usually remains unaltered

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:e3:o4:1
# text = The prey usually remains unaltered
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	remains	remain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	unaltered	unaltered	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remain** | present | the prey |  |  |  |  | unaltered, usually *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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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