---
title: Which creature first addressed the travellers with the formal questi… — Folk Tales, The Sacred Milk of Koumong… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which creature first addressed the travellers with the formal question concerning the child? Exam question 2 of lesson 1224 «Folk Tales, The Sacred Milk of Koumongoé, part 2: Thakane is taken to the ogre, and the animals ask why» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1224-pg3282-part25/e2/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Folk Tales, The Sacred Milk of Koumong…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1224-pg3282-part25/) / e2

# Exam question 2 · Folk Tales, The Sacred Milk of Koumongoé, part 2: Thakane…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which creature first addressed the travellers with the formal question concerning the child?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** creature, formal question · **What happens:** address, concern · **To what, where:** travellers, child

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1224 «Folk Tales, The Sacred Milk of Koumongoé, part 2: Thakane is taken to the ogre, and the animals ask why» 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/1224-pg3282-part25/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1224-pg3282-part25:e2:1
# text = Which creature first addressed the travellers with the formal question concerning the child?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	advmod	_	_
4	addressed	address	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	travellers	traveller	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	formal	formal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **address** | past | which creature | the travellers |  |  |  | with the formal question; first *property* | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent traveller=Destination with question=Theme |
| 2 | **concern** | gerund | the formal question *not said here* | the child |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus child=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 -->
The gazelle, lifting its slender head

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1224-pg3282-part25:e2:o1:1
# text = The gazelle, lifting its slender head
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	gazelle	gazelle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	lifting	lift	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	slender	slender	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lift** | gerund | the gazelle *not said here* | gazelle's slender head |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rabbit, standing upon its hind legs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1224-pg3282-part25:e2:o2:1
# text = The rabbit, standing upon its hind legs
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	hind	hind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | gerund | the rabbit *not said here* |  |  | rabbit's hind legs |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon leg=Location |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rabbit

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1224-pg3282-part25:e2:o3:1
# text = The rabbit
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The elands, bowing on their knees

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1224-pg3282-part25:e2:o4:1
# text = The elands, bowing on their knees
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	elands	eland	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	bowing	bow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bow** | gerund | the elands |  |  | elands's knees |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on knee=Location |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Folk Tales, The Sacred Milk of Koumong…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1224-pg3282-part25/e1/)
- next →: [Folk Tales, The Sacred Milk of Koumong…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1224-pg3282-part25/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Folk Tales, The Sacred Milk of Koumongoé, part 2: Thakane is taken to the ogre, and the animals ask why](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1224-pg3282-part25/)