---
title: By what declaration did Fionn secure his preservation from the robbe… — Irish Fairy Tales, The Boyhood Deeds o… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what declaration did Fionn secure his preservation from the robber's blade? Exam question 3 of lesson 1039 «Irish Fairy Tales, The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, part 7: Fionn is spared by the robber Fiacuil and carried off to his marsh den» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the depende
---

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# Exam question 3 · Irish Fairy Tales, The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, part 7: Fio…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what declaration did Fionn secure his preservation from the robber's blade?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** declaration, Fionn · **What happens:** secure, preserve · **To what, where:** preservation, blade

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1039 «Irish Fairy Tales, The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, part 7: Fionn is spared by the robber Fiacuil and carried off to his marsh den» of the books 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/books/1039-pg2892-part7/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1039-pg2892-part7:e3:1
# text = By what declaration did Fionn secure his preservation from the robber's blade?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	obl	_	_
3	declaration	declaration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	secure	secure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	preservation	preservation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	robber	robber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	blade	blade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **secure** | past · do-support | declaration | Fionn's preservation |  | the robber's blade |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent preservation=Theme from blade=Source |
| 2 | **preserve** |  | Fionn |  |  |  |  |  | nom preservation «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He swore an oath on his spear and his gold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1039-pg2892-part7:e3:o1:1
# text = He swore an oath on his spear and his gold
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	swore	swear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	oath	oath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swear** | past | He | a oath |  | his spear and his gold |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent oath=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He recited a poem about the robber's great spear

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1039-pg2892-part7:e3:o2:1
# text = He recited a poem about the robber's great spear
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	recited	recite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	poem	poem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	robber	robber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **recite** | past | He | a poem |  |  |  | about the robber's great spear | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent poem=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He stated "The son of Uail, son of Baiscne"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1039-pg2892-part7:e3:o3:1
# text = He stated "The son of Uail, son of Baiscne"
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stated	state	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Uail	Uail	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Baiscne	Baiscne	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **state** *speech: other* | past | He | the son of Uail |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent son=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He begged for mercy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1039-pg2892-part7:e3:o4:1
# text = He begged for mercy
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | He |  |  |  |  | for mercy | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent for mercy=Topic |

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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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- ↑ back to [Irish Fairy Tales, The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, part 7: Fionn is spared by the robber Fiacuil and carried off to his marsh den](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1039-pg2892-part7/)