---
title: Describe the means by which the king sought to avoid the prophesied… — Indian Fairy Tales, Puruna, part 54: t… · tree and pragmatics
description: Describe the means by which the king sought to avoid the prophesied fate. Exam question 4 of lesson 1253 «Indian Fairy Tales, Puruna, part 54: the king's hunt and the hermit's prophecy» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Indian Fairy Tales, Puruna, part 54: the king's hunt and t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Describe the means by which the king sought to avoid the prophesied fate.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, the, king · **What happens:** describe, mean, seek, avoid, prophesy · **To what, where:** prophesied fate · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 1253 «Indian Fairy Tales, Puruna, part 54: the king's hunt and the hermit's prophecy» 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/1253-pg3282-part54/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1253-pg3282-part54:e4:1
# text = Describe the means by which the king sought to avoid the prophesied fate.
1	Describe	describe	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	sought	seek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	avoid	avoid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	prophesied	prophesy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	amod	_	_
13	fate	fate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **mean** | present | the |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **seek** | past | the king |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **avoid** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the king *not said here* | the prophesied fate |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent fate=Location |
| 5 | **prophesy** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by buying the slave girl and her son

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1253-pg3282-part54:e4:o1:1
# text = by buying the slave girl and her son
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	buying	buy	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | gerund |  | the slave girl and her son |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent girl=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by buying the slave girl and her son and sending them far away to the desert

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1253-pg3282-part54:e4:o2:1
# text = by buying the slave girl and her son and sending them far away to the desert
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	buying	buy	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	sending	send	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
13	away	away	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | gerund |  | the slave girl and her son |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent girl=Theme |
| 2 | **send** | gerund |  | girl |  |  |  | away *property* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by sending the girl away north

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1253-pg3282-part54:e4:o3:1
# text = by sending the girl away north
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	sending	send	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	north	north	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send away** | gerund |  | the girl |  |  |  | away, north *property* | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent girl=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by buying the slave girl and her son and raising the boy in his own palace

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1253-pg3282-part54:e4:o4:1
# text = by buying the slave girl and her son and raising the boy in his own palace
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	buying	buy	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	raising	raise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | gerund |  | the slave girl and her son |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent girl=Theme |
| 2 | **raise** | gerund |  | the boy |  | boy's own palace |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent boy=Theme in palace=Destination |

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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.

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- ← previous: [Indian Fairy Tales, Puruna, part 54: t…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1253-pg3282-part54/e3/)
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