---
title: Explain the function of the sack of dates in the closing episode of… — Indian Tales, The Younger Son of the J… · tree and pragmatics
description: Explain the function of the sack of dates in the closing episode of the passage. Exam question 4 of lesson 1165 «Indian Tales, The Younger Son of the Jackal, part 31: the jackal cheats the sheep over the grain, and the greyhound is called in» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the de
---

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# Exam question 4 · Indian Tales, The Younger Son of the Jackal, part 31: the…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Explain the function of the sack of dates in the closing episode of the passage.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** explain, close · **To what, where:** function, closing episode

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 1165 «Indian Tales, The Younger Son of the Jackal, part 31: the jackal cheats the sheep over the grain, and the greyhound is called in» 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/1165-pg3027-part31/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1165-pg3027-part31:e4:1
# text = Explain the function of the sack of dates in the closing episode of the passage.
1	Explain	explain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	function	function	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sack	sack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	dates	date	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	closing	close	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	amod	_	_
12	episode	episode	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **explain** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* | the function of the sack of dates |  | the closing episode of the passage |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent function=Topic |
| 2 | **close** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it hid the greyhound and revealed the jackal's trickery

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1165-pg3027-part31:e4:o1:1
# text = it hid the greyhound and revealed the jackal's trickery
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hid	hide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	greyhound	greyhound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	revealed	reveal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	jackal	jackal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	trickery	trickery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | past | it | the greyhound |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent greyhound=Patient |
| 2 | **reveal** | past |  | the jackal's trickery |  |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trickery=Topic |
| 3 | **trick** |  | the jackal |  |  |  |  |  | nom trickery «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it stored the grain for the winter season

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1165-pg3027-part31:e4:o2:1
# text = it stored the grain for the winter season
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stored	store	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	season	season	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **store** | past | it | the grain |  |  | season |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grain=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it held the dates for dinner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1165-pg3027-part31:e4:o3:1
# text = it held the dates for dinner
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	dates	date	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | past | it | the dates |  |  |  | for dinner | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent date=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it concealed the greyhound and exposed the jackal's deception

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1165-pg3027-part31:e4:o4:1
# text = it concealed the greyhound and exposed the jackal's deception
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	concealed	conceal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	greyhound	greyhound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	exposed	expose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	jackal	jackal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	deception	deception	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **conceal** | past | it | the greyhound |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent greyhound=Patient |
| 2 | **expose** | past |  | the jackal's deception |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot deception=Topic |
| 3 | **deceive** |  | the jackal |  |  |  |  |  | nom deception «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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: [Indian Tales, The Younger Son of the J…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1165-pg3027-part31/e3/)
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- ↑ back to [Indian Tales, The Younger Son of the Jackal, part 31: the jackal cheats the sheep over the grain, and the greyhound is called in](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1165-pg3027-part31/)