---
title: What is the principal characteristic that renders Iktomi friendless? — Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Duc… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is the principal characteristic that renders Iktomi friendless? Exam question 4 of lesson 1264 «Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, part 1: Iktomi tricks the ducks with a song, roasts them, and ignores a crying tree» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree a
---

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# Exam question 4 · Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, part 1: Iktomi t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What is the principal characteristic that renders Iktomi friendless?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** principal characteristic · **What happens:** be, render · **To what, where:** Iktomi

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 1264 «Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, part 1: Iktomi tricks the ducks with a song, roasts them, and ignores a crying tree» 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/1264-pg338-part1/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1264-pg338-part1:e4:1
# text = What is the principal characteristic that renders Iktomi friendless?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	characteristic	characteristic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	renders	render	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	Iktomi	Iktomi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	friendless	friendless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the principal characteristic |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **render** | present | the principal characteristic | Iktomi |  |  |  | friendless *property* | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent iktomi=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
His vanity and his naughtiness

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1264-pg338-part1:e4:o1:1
# text = His vanity and his naughtiness
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	vanity	vanity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	naughtiness	naughtiness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His greedy stomach and laziness

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1264-pg338-part1:e4:o2:1
# text = His greedy stomach and laziness
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	greedy	greedy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	stomach	stomach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	laziness	laziness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His vanity and his naughtiness that makes everyone avoid him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1264-pg338-part1:e4:o3:1
# text = His vanity and his naughtiness that makes everyone avoid him
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	vanity	vanity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	naughtiness	naughtiness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	7	obj	_	_
9	avoid	avoid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | His vanity and his naughtiness | everyone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **avoid** | infinitive | everyone *not said here* | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent he=Location |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His constant vanity, naughtiness, and his habit of tricking the birds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1264-pg338-part1:e4:o4:1
# text = His constant vanity, naughtiness, and his habit of tricking the birds
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	vanity	vanity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	naughtiness	naughtiness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	habit	habit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
10	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	tricking	trick	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	acl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trick** | gerund | his habit *not said here* | the birds |  |  |  |  | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Patient |

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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: [Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Duc…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1264-pg338-part1/e3/)
- next →: [Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Duc…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1265-pg338-part2/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, part 1: Iktomi tricks the ducks with a song, roasts them, and ignores a crying tree](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1264-pg338-part1/)