---
title: To what did the messenger attribute the king's hasty retreat? — Orange Fairy Book, Moti: Moti rides to… · tree and pragmatics
description: To what did the messenger attribute the king's hasty retreat? Exam question 3 of lesson 1301 «Orange Fairy Book, Moti: Moti rides to war on a wobbly pony and frightens a king into surrender.» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of
---

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# Exam question 3 · Orange Fairy Book, Moti: Moti rides to war on a wobbly pon…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To what did the messenger attribute the king's hasty retreat?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** messenger · **What happens:** attribute · **To what, where:** hasty retreat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1301 «Orange Fairy Book, Moti: Moti rides to war on a wobbly pony and frightens a king into surrender.» 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/1301-pg3454-part26/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1301-pg3454-part26:e3:1
# text = To what did the messenger attribute the king's hasty retreat?
1	To	to	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	obl	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	attribute	attribute	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	hasty	hasty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	retreat	retreat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **attribute** | past · do-support | the messenger | the king's hasty retreat |  |  |  |  | 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A giant brandishing a tree

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1301-pg3454-part26:e3:o1:1
# text = A giant brandishing a tree
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	brandishing	brandish	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **brandish** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A giant brandishing a huge uprooted tree over his head

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1301-pg3454-part26:e3:o2:1
# text = A giant brandishing a huge uprooted tree over his head
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
2	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
3	brandishing	brandish	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	nsubj	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	uprooted	uproot	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	over	over	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **brandish** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **uproot** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A charging army of giants

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1301-pg3454-part26:e3:o3:1
# text = A charging army of giants
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	charging	charge	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	amod	_	_
3	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	giants	giant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **charge** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A flood of angry soldiers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1301-pg3454-part26:e3:o4:1
# text = A flood of angry soldiers
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	flood	flood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flood** |  | angry soldiers |  |  |  |  |  | nom flood «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent |

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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: [Orange Fairy Book, Moti: Moti rides to…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1301-pg3454-part26/e2/)
- next →: [Orange Fairy Book, Moti: Moti rides to…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1301-pg3454-part26/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Orange Fairy Book, Moti: Moti rides to war on a wobbly pony and frightens a king into surrender.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1301-pg3454-part26/)