---
title: Which action did Désiré perform upon the iron gate prior to its open… — Yellow Fairy Book, The Three Oranges,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which action did Désiré perform upon the iron gate prior to its opening? Exam question 1 of lesson 1563 «Yellow Fairy Book, The Three Oranges, part 60: Désiré oils the gate, pleases the helpers, and reaches a thirsty sandy plain» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1563-pg540-part60/e1/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Yellow Fairy Book, The Three Oranges,…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1563-pg540-part60/) / e1

# Exam question 1 · Yellow Fairy Book, The Three Oranges, part 60: Désiré oils…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which action did Désiré perform upon the iron gate prior to its opening?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** action · **What happens:** perform

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 1563 «Yellow Fairy Book, The Three Oranges, part 60: Désiré oils the gate, pleases the helpers, and reaches a thirsty sandy plain» 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/1563-pg540-part60/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1563-pg540-part60:e1:1
# text = Which action did Désiré perform upon the iron gate prior to its opening?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	Désiré	Désiré	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	perform	perform	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	prior	prior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	13	case	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
12	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	opening	opening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perform** | past · do-support | which action |  |  |  |  | upon the iron gate; prior action's opening | vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He hammered the iron bars until the rust fell away from the hinges

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1563-pg540-part60:e1:o1:1
# text = He hammered the iron bars until the rust fell away from the hinges
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hammered	hammer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	bars	bar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	rust	rust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
10	away	away	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	hinges	hinge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hammer** | past | He | the iron bars |  |  |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bar=Patient |
| 2 | **fall away** | past | the rust |  |  | the hinges |  | away *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He kicked the iron frame hard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1563-pg540-part60:e1:o2:1
# text = He kicked the iron frame hard
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	kicked	kick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	frame	frame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kick** | past | He | the iron frame |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent frame=Patient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He lubricated the hinges with oil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1563-pg540-part60:e1:o3:1
# text = He lubricated the hinges with oil
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lubricated	lubricate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	hinges	hinge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	oil	oil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lubricate** | past | He | the hinges |  |  |  | with oil | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent hinge=Destination with oil=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He painted the iron bars

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1563-pg540-part60:e1:o4:1
# text = He painted the iron bars
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	painted	paint	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	bars	bar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **paint** | past | He | the iron bars |  |  |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent bar=Destination |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Yellow Fairy Book, The Three Oranges,…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1563-pg540-part60/t13/)
- next →: [Yellow Fairy Book, The Three Oranges,…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1563-pg540-part60/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Yellow Fairy Book, The Three Oranges, part 60: Désiré oils the gate, pleases the helpers, and reaches a thirsty sandy plain](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1563-pg540-part60/)