---
title: Which phrase did the negro Ali employ in replying to the head's comm… — Arabian Nights, The Enchanted Head, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which phrase did the negro Ali employ in replying to the head's command? Exam question 4 of lesson 1235 «Arabian Nights, The Enchanted Head, part 36: the head makes the sultan's hill into a garden» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1235-pg3282-part36/e4/)

<!-- 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/) / [Arabian Nights, The Enchanted Head, pa…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1235-pg3282-part36/) / e4

# Exam question 4 · Arabian Nights, The Enchanted Head, part 36: the head make…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which phrase did the negro Ali employ in replying to the head's command?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** phrase, negro Ali employ, head · **What happens:** do, reply, command · **To what, where:** negro Ali employ · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 1235 «Arabian Nights, The Enchanted Head, part 36: the head makes the sultan's hill into a garden» 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/1235-pg3282-part36/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1235-pg3282-part36:e4:1
# text = Which phrase did the negro Ali employ in replying to the head's command?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	phrase	phrase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	negro	negro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
6	Ali	Ali	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	employ	employ	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	replying	reply	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | which phrase | the negro Ali employ |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent employ=Eventuality |
| 2 | **reply** *speech: assert* | gerund | the negro Ali employ *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the head's command | vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to command=Theme |
| 3 | **command** |  | the head |  |  |  |  |  | nom command «communication 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Tell my master he shall be obeyed"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1235-pg3282-part36:e4:o1:1
# text = "Tell my master he shall be obeyed"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	obeyed	obey	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* | my master |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent master=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **obey** *in a quote* | shall · passive |  | he |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Tell the sultan I will do it now"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1235-pg3282-part36:e4:o2:1
# text = "Tell the sultan I will do it now"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sultan	sultan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* | the sultan |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent sultan=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** *in a quote* | future | I | sultan |  |  | now |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Tell my master that the hill will be gone before the forty days are over"

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1235-pg3282-part36:e4:o3:1
# text = "Tell my master that the hill will be gone before the forty days are over"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	_
11	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	forty	forty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	over	over	ADV	RB	_	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* | my master |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent master=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** *in a quote* | future · passive |  | the hill |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the forty days |  |  |  |  | over *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Tell my master he shall be obeyed by all the city and the palace"

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1235-pg3282-part36:e4:o4:1
# text = "Tell my master he shall be obeyed by all the city and the palace"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	obeyed	obey	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	12	det:predet	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* | my master |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent master=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **obey** *in a quote* | shall · passive | all city and the palace | he |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Arabian Nights, The Enchanted Head, pa…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1235-pg3282-part36/e3/)
- next →: [Fairy Book, The Golden Hen, part 37: a…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1236-pg3282-part37/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Arabian Nights, The Enchanted Head, part 36: the head makes the sultan's hill into a garden](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1235-pg3282-part36/)