---
title: What was the fisherman's stated reason for delaying the second deliv… — Arabian Nights, The Fisherman and the… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the fisherman's stated reason for delaying the second delivery of fish? Exam question 4 of lesson 167 «Arabian Nights, The Fisherman and the Genius, part 7: the Greek king dies of poisoned pages, then the magic fish burn in the kitchen» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the
---

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# Exam question 4 · Arabian Nights, The Fisherman and the Genius, part 7: the…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the fisherman's stated reason for delaying the second delivery of fish?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** stated reason · **What happens:** state, be, delay, deliver · **To what, where:** stated reason, second delivery, fish

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 167 «Arabian Nights, The Fisherman and the Genius, part 7: the Greek king dies of poisoned pages, then the magic fish burn in the kitchen» 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/167-pg128-part7/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:167-pg128-part7:e4:1
# text = What was the fisherman's stated reason for delaying the second delivery of fish?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	fisherman	fisherman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	stated	state	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	delaying	delay	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	12	amod	_	_
12	delivery	delivery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **state** *speech: other* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | the fisherman's stated reason |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **delay** | gerund | the fisherman's stated reason *not said here* | the second delivery of fish |  |  |  |  | vn delay-53.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent delivery=Source |
| 4 | **deliver** |  |  | fish |  |  |  |  | nom delivery «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
his illness

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:167-pg128-part7:e4:o1:1
# text = his illness
1	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	illness	illness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a broken net

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:167-pg128-part7:e4:o2:1
# text = a broken net
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the length of the way and a broken net

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:167-pg128-part7:e4:o3:1
# text = the length of the way and a broken net
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the length of the way

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:167-pg128-part7:e4:o4:1
# text = the length of the way
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .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 Fisherman and the…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/167-pg128-part7/e3/)
- next →: [Arabian Nights, The Young King of the…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/168-pg128-part8/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Arabian Nights, The Fisherman and the Genius, part 7: the Greek king dies of poisoned pages, then the magic fish burn in the kitchen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/167-pg128-part7/)