---
title: Ascertain the principal reason for which frogs are readily harmed by… — Fish, frogs and reptiles · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal reason for which frogs are readily harmed by polluted water. Exam question 3 of lesson 74 «Fish, frogs and reptiles» 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 3 · Fish, frogs and reptiles

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal reason for which frogs are readily harmed by polluted water.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, polluted water · **What happens:** ascertain, harm, pollute · **To what, where:** principal reason, frogs

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 74 «Fish, frogs and reptiles» 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/74-fish-frogs-reptiles/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the principal reason for which frogs are readily harmed by polluted water.
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	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obl	_	_
7	frogs	frog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
9	readily	readily	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	harmed	harm	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	polluted	pollute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	amod	_	_
13	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	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 principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **harm** | present · passive | polluted water | frogs |  |  |  | for the principal reason; readily *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer |
| 3 | **pollute** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their skin is thin and moist

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:e3:o1:1
# text = Their skin is thin and moist
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	moist	moist	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Their skin |  |  |  |  | thin *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Their skin *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They possess no gills at any stage

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:e3:o2:1
# text = They possess no gills at any stage
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	possess	possess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	gills	gill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	stage	stage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | They | no gills |  | any stage |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot gill=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They drink great quantities of water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:e3:o3:1
# text = They drink great quantities of water
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	drink	drink	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	quantities	quantity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drink** | present | They | great quantities of water |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quantity=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their skin is dry and scaly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:e3:o4:1
# text = Their skin is dry and scaly
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	scaly	scaly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Their skin |  |  |  |  | dry *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Their skin *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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: [Fish, frogs and reptiles, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/74-fish-frogs-reptiles/e2/)
- next →: [Fish, frogs and reptiles, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/74-fish-frogs-reptiles/e4/)
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