---
title: Describe the quality which the little grey man attributed to the pro… — Household Tales, Dullhead: the golden… · tree and pragmatics
description: Describe the quality which the little grey man attributed to the protagonist as the reason for his assistance. Exam question 3 of lesson 1580 «Household Tales, Dullhead: the golden goose, the sticky sisters and the wedding» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and p
---

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# Exam question 3 · Household Tales, Dullhead: the golden goose, the sticky si…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Describe the quality which the little grey man attributed to the protagonist as the reason for his assistance.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, quality, man · **What happens:** describe, man, attribute, assist · **To what, where:** quality, little grey man

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1580 «Household Tales, Dullhead: the golden goose, the sticky sisters and the wedding» 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/1580-pg540-part77/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1580-pg540-part77:e3:1
# text = Describe the quality which the little grey man attributed to the protagonist as the reason for his assistance.
1	Describe	describe	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	quality	quality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	acl:relcl	_	_
9	attributed	attribute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	assistance	assistance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | imperative | you *not said here* | the quality |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent quality=Theme |
| 2 | **man** |  | the quality |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **attribute** | participle |  | the little grey man *not said here* |  |  |  | to the protagonist; as the reason for man's assistance | tree rules |
| 4 | **assist** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom assistance «act 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had been kind and merciful to the grey man when others would not help him.

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1580-pg540-part77:e3:o1:1
# text = He had been kind and merciful to the grey man when others would not help him.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	cop	_	_
4	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	merciful	merciful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
11	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	15	mark	_	_
12	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past · perfect | He |  |  |  |  | kind *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the grey man | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **help** | would | others |  | man |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was kind and merciful to the grey man and gave him his last bread and beer.

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1580-pg540-part77:e3:o2:1
# text = He was kind and merciful to the grey man and gave him his last bread and beer.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	merciful	merciful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	iobj	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
14	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	beer	beer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | He |  |  |  |  | kind *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the grey man | tree rules |
| 3 | **give** | past | He *not said here* | man's last bread and beer | man |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient bread=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was kind and merciful to the grey man.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1580-pg540-part77:e3:o3:1
# text = He was kind and merciful to the grey man.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	merciful	merciful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | He |  |  |  |  | to the grey man; kind *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He shared his bread with the man.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1580-pg540-part77:e3:o4:1
# text = He shared his bread with the man.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	shared	share	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **share** | past | He | his bread |  |  |  | with the man | tree rules |

<!-- 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 -->

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