---
title: To which period of time does the fairy's sentence of transformation… — Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the G… · tree and pragmatics
description: To which period of time does the fairy's sentence of transformation refer? Exam question 2 of lesson 164 «Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genie, part 4: three old men tell their wonderful tales, and the fisherman casts his net» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency t
---

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# Exam question 2 · Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genie, part 4: three…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To which period of time does the fairy's sentence of transformation refer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** sentence, fairy · **What happens:** do, refer, sentence · **To what, where:** sentence

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 164 «Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genie, part 4: three old men tell their wonderful tales, and the fisherman casts his net» 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/164-pg128-part4/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:164-pg128-part4:e2:1
# text = To which period of time does the fairy's sentence of transformation refer?
1	To	to	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	3	det	_	_
3	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	transformation	transformation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
13	refer	refer	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present |  | the fairy's sentence |  |  |  | to which period of time | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sentence=Eventuality |
| 2 | **refer** | present | the fairy's sentence *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of transformation | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **sentence** |  | the fairy |  |  |  |  |  | nom sentence «communication 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:164-pg128-part4:e2:o1:1
# text = A year
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Days

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:164-pg128-part4:e2:o2:1
# text = Days
1	Days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ten years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:164-pg128-part4:e2:o3:1
# text = Ten years
1	Ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Five years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:164-pg128-part4:e2:o4:1
# text = Five years
1	Five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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: [Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the G…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/164-pg128-part4/e1/)
- next →: [Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the G…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/164-pg128-part4/e3/)
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