---
title: Which of the following correctly states the custom of the country re… — Basuto Tales, Thakane and Dilah: a mot… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following correctly states the custom of the country regarding female infants at the time of their birth? Exam question 3 of lesson 1225 «Basuto Tales, Thakane and Dilah: a mother hides her baby from the ogre's pot, and a father pays a thousand cattle to win back his daughter» of the bo
---

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# Exam question 3 · Basuto Tales, Thakane and Dilah: a mother hides her baby f…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following correctly states the custom of the country regarding female infants at the time of their birth?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, state, regard · **To what, where:** custom

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1225 «Basuto Tales, Thakane and Dilah: a mother hides her baby from the ogre's pot, and a father pays a thousand cattle to win back his daughter» 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/1225-pg3282-part26/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1225-pg3282-part26:e3:1
# text = Which of the following correctly states the custom of the country regarding female infants at the time of their birth?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	nsubj	_	_
5	correctly	correctly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	states	state	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	regarding	regard	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	case	_	_
13	female	female	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	infants	infant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **state** *speech: other* | present |  | the custom of the country |  |  | time | regard female infants; correctly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent custom=Topic |
| 3 | **regard** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=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 -->
Given to the ogre

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1225-pg3282-part26:e3:o1:1
# text = Given to the ogre
1	Given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	ogre	ogre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | participle |  |  | the ogre |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to ogre=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were sold to the old women for cattle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1225-pg3282-part26:e3:o2:1
# text = They were sold to the old women for cattle
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	sold	sell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sell** | past · passive |  | They | the old women |  |  | for cattle | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.asset»: subject=Theme to woman=Recipient for cattle=Asset |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were raised as servants in the king's household

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1225-pg3282-part26:e3:o3:1
# text = They were raised as servants in the king's household
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	raised	raise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:agent	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **raise** | past · passive | the king's household | They |  |  |  | as servants | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were to be given to the ogre to be eaten

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1225-pg3282-part26:e3:o4:1
# text = They were to be given to the ogre to be eaten
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	ogre	ogre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past · passive |  | They | the ogre |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme to ogre=Recipient |
| 2 | **eat** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V» |

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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: [Basuto Tales, Thakane and Dilah: a mot…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1225-pg3282-part26/e2/)
- next →: [Basuto Tales, Thakane and Dilah: a mot…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1225-pg3282-part26/e4/)
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