---
title: Why did the knight pardon the young man after the first tale? — Popular Tales, The Black Thief and the… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did the knight pardon the young man after the first tale? Exam question 3 of lesson 1517 «Popular Tales, The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen, part 14: the thieves are caught, and the Black Thief tells two tales to save his neck» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the depen
---

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# Exam question 3 · Popular Tales, The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen,…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did the knight pardon the young man after the first tale?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** do · **To what, where:** knight pardon

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1517 «Popular Tales, The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen, part 14: the thieves are caught, and the Black Thief tells two tales to save his neck» 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/1517-pg540-part14/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1517-pg540-part14:e3:1
# text = Why did the knight pardon the young man after the first tale?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	pardon	pardon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	after	after	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	12	amod	_	_
12	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  | the knight pardon |  |  | after the first tale | the young man *obl:unmarked* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pardon=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
because the young man had proven his innocence after the first tale was told

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1517-pg540-part14:e3:o1:1
# text = because the young man had proven his innocence after the first tale was told
1	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	proven	prove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	innocence	innocence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	12	amod	_	_
12	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prove** | past · perfect | the young man | man's innocence |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent innocence=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | the first tale |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
because the Thief's adventure seemed extraordinary, and the knight wanted to hear more of it

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1517-pg540-part14:e3:o2:1
# text = because the Thief's adventure seemed extraordinary, and the knight wanted to hear more of it
1	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Thief	Thief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	adventure	adventure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	extraordinary	extraordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	14	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | the Thief's adventure |  |  |  |  | extraordinary *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **want** | past | the knight |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **hear** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the knight *not said here* | more of adventure |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer more=Stimulus |
| 4 | **adventure** |  | the Thief |  |  |  |  |  | nom adventure «act transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
because the tale seemed very odd

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1517-pg540-part14:e3:o3:1
# text = because the tale seemed very odd
1	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | the tale |  |  |  |  | odd *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
because the Thief's adventure seemed extraordinary

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1517-pg540-part14:e3:o4:1
# text = because the Thief's adventure seemed extraordinary
1	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Thief	Thief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	adventure	adventure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	extraordinary	extraordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | the Thief's adventure |  |  |  |  | extraordinary *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **adventure** |  | the Thief |  |  |  |  |  | nom adventure «act transitive»: poss=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: [Popular Tales, The Black Thief and the…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1517-pg540-part14/e2/)
- next →: [Popular Tales, The Black Thief and the…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1517-pg540-part14/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Popular Tales, The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen, part 14: the thieves are caught, and the Black Thief tells two tales to save his neck](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1517-pg540-part14/)