---
title: What did the captor declare regarding the creature in his possession? — Lang's Fairy Book, The Bunyip: young f… · tree and pragmatics
description: What did the captor declare regarding the creature in his possession? Exam question 2 of lesson 1213 «Lang's Fairy Book, The Bunyip: young fishermen catch a Bunyip cub, its angry mother rises from the pool, and the youths are turned into swans» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the 
---

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# Exam question 2 · Lang's Fairy Book, The Bunyip: young fishermen catch a Bun…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What did the captor declare regarding the creature in his possession?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** captor · **What happens:** declare, regard, possess

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1213 «Lang's Fairy Book, The Bunyip: young fishermen catch a Bunyip cub, its angry mother rises from the pool, and the youths are turned into swans» 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/1213-pg3282-part14/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1213-pg3282-part14:e2:1
# text = What did the captor declare regarding the creature in his possession?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	captor	captor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	declare	declare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	regarding	regard	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	possession	possession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **declare** *speech: other* | past · do-support | the captor |  |  |  |  | regard the creature in captor's possession | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Attribute |
| 2 | **regard** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **possess** |  | captor |  |  |  |  |  | nom possession «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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
that he had seen it swim away and let it go

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1213-pg3282-part14:e2:o1:1
# text = that he had seen it swim away and let it go
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	swim	swim	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	away	away	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past · perfect | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **swim away** | present | it |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **let** | infinitive |  | it |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **go** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
that it would be eaten by the tribe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1213-pg3282-part14:e2:o2:1
# text = that it would be eaten by the tribe
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	tribe	tribe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | would · passive | the tribe | it |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
that he would release it at sunset tonight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1213-pg3282-part14:e2:o3:1
# text = that he would release it at sunset tonight
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	release	release	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	sunset	sunset	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	tonight	tonight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **release** | would | he | it |  |  | sunset; tonight |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer it=Source |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
that he had caught it and would keep it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1213-pg3282-part14:e2:o4:1
# text = that he had caught it and would keep it
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | past · perfect · passive |  | he |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary it=Theme |
| 2 | **keep** | would |  | it |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

<!-- 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: [Lang's Fairy Book, The Bunyip: young f…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1213-pg3282-part14/e1/)
- next →: [Lang's Fairy Book, The Bunyip: young f…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1213-pg3282-part14/e3/)
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