---
title: State the precise object which Little Thumb employed to mark the pat… — Perrault's Popular Tales, Little Thumb… · tree and pragmatics
description: State the precise object which Little Thumb employed to mark the path, and its subsequent fate. Exam question 3 of lesson 1468 «Perrault's Popular Tales, Little Thumb, part 55: lost again, the children reach the ogre's house» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and
---

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# Exam question 3 · Perrault's Popular Tales, Little Thumb, part 55: lost agai…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the precise object which Little Thumb employed to mark the path, and its subsequent fate.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Little Thumb, path · **What happens:** employ, mark, fate · **To what, where:** State precise object, path

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 1468 «Perrault's Popular Tales, Little Thumb, part 55: lost again, the children reach the ogre's house» 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/1468-pg503-part55/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1468-pg503-part55:e3:1
# text = State the precise object which Little Thumb employed to mark the path, and its subsequent fate.
1	State	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	precise	precise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	object	object	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obj	_	_
6	Little	Little	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	Thumb	Thumb	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	employed	employ	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	mark	mark	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	subsequent	subsequent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	fate	fate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | past | Little Thumb | the State precise object and path's subsequent fate |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **mark** | to-infinitive | Little Thumb *not said here* | the path |  |  |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent path=Destination |
| 3 | **fate** |  | path |  |  |  |  |  | nom fate «event 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 -->
Bread, which was devoured by birds leaving no trace of it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1468-pg503-part55:e3:o1:1
# text = Bread, which was devoured by birds leaving no trace of it
1	Bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	devoured	devour	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	amod	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:agent	_	_
8	leaving	leave	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
10	trace	trace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **devour** | past · passive | birds | Bread |  |  |  |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 2 | **leave** | gerund | birds *not said here* | no trace of trace |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trace=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pebbles, lost in the grass

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1468-pg503-part55:e3:o2:1
# text = Pebbles, lost in the grass
1	Pebbles	pebble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | participle · passive |  | Pebbles |  | the grass |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Crumbs, which were swept away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1468-pg503-part55:e3:o3:1
# text = Crumbs, which were swept away
1	Crumbs	crumb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	swept	sweep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl:relcl	_	_
6	away	away	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sweep away** | past · passive |  | Crumbs |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Trajectory |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bread, which the birds ate up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1468-pg503-part55:e3:o4:1
# text = Bread, which the birds ate up
1	Bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	obj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat up** | past | Bread |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=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: [Perrault's Popular Tales, Little Thumb…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1468-pg503-part55/e2/)
- next →: [Perrault's Popular Tales, Little Thumb…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1468-pg503-part55/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Perrault's Popular Tales, Little Thumb, part 55: lost again, the children reach the ogre's house](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1468-pg503-part55/)