---
title: In what manner did the elder toad endeavour to retain the human child? — Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater… · tree and pragmatics
description: In what manner did the elder toad endeavour to retain the human child? Exam question 1 of lesson 1273 «Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater, part 10: the stolen boy is found by his parents, and a wood-child is adopted by a chieftain» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependenc
---

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# Exam question 1 · Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater, part 10: the stole…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In what manner did the elder toad endeavour to retain the human child?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** do, retain · **To what, where:** elder toad endeavour, manner, human child

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 1273 «Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater, part 10: the stolen boy is found by his parents, and a wood-child is adopted by a chieftain» 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/1273-pg338-part10/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1273-pg338-part10:e1:1
# text = In what manner did the elder toad endeavour to retain the human child?
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	3	det	_	_
3	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	elder	elder	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	toad	toad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	endeavour	endeavour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	retain	retain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  | the elder toad endeavour |  | what manner |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent endeavour=Eventuality |
| 2 | **retain** | to-infinitive |  | the human child |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
By singing softly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1273-pg338-part10:e1:o1:1
# text = By singing softly
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | softly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By hooting a hollow tune in imitation of his mother's voice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1273-pg338-part10:e1:o2:1
# text = By hooting a hollow tune in imitation of his mother's voice
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hooting	hoot	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	hollow	hollow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	tune	tune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	imitation	imitation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hoot** | gerund |  | a hollow tune |  | imitation of his mother's voice |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location tune=Theme |
| 2 | **imitate** |  |  | his mother's voice |  |  |  |  | nom imitation «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By wailing a coarse song that imitated a distant mourning chant

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1273-pg338-part10:e1:o3:1
# text = By wailing a coarse song that imitated a distant mourning chant
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	wailing	wail	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	coarse	coarse	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	imitated	imitate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	distant	distant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
10	mourning	mourning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	chant	chant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wail** | gerund |  | a coarse song |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent song=Theme |
| 2 | **imitate** | past | a coarse song | a distant mourning chant |  |  |  |  | vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chant=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By emitting a gruff imitation of a Dakota lament

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1273-pg338-part10:e1:o4:1
# text = By emitting a gruff imitation of a Dakota lament
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	emitting	emit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	gruff	gruff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	imitation	imitation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	Dakota	Dakota	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	lament	lament	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **emit** | gerund |  | a gruff imitation of a Dakota lament |  |  |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source imitation=Theme |
| 2 | **imitate** |  |  | a Dakota lament |  |  |  |  | nom imitation «cognition transitive»: of=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: [Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater…, test 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1273-pg338-part10/t14/)
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