---
title: In what manner did the impostors conduct their ostensible labour upo… — Lang's Fairy Book, The Emperor's New C… · tree and pragmatics
description: In what manner did the impostors conduct their ostensible labour upon the looms throughout the period before the procession? Exam question 2 of lesson 1683 «Lang's Fairy Book, The Emperor's New Clothes: the Emperor parades in nothing» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency
---

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# Exam question 2 · Lang's Fairy Book, The Emperor's New Clothes: the Emperor…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In what manner did the impostors conduct their ostensible labour upon the looms throughout the period before the procession?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** impostors · **What happens:** conduct · **To what, where:** ostensible labour, manner

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1683 «Lang's Fairy Book, The Emperor's New Clothes: the Emperor parades in nothing» 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/1683-pg640-part7/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1683-pg640-part7:e2:1
# text = In what manner did the impostors conduct their ostensible labour upon the looms throughout the period before the procession?
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	3	det	_	_
3	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	impostors	impostor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	conduct	conduct	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
9	ostensible	ostensible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	labour	labour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	looms	loom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
14	throughout	throughout	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
17	before	before	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	procession	procession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **conduct** | past · do-support | the impostors | impostors's ostensible labour |  | what manner | throughout the period; before the procession | upon the looms | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent labour=Theme in manner=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
They pretended to work upon empty looms, day and night, until the procession was ready

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1683-pg640-part7:e2:o1:1
# text = They pretended to work upon empty looms, day and night, until the procession was ready
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	pretended	pretend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	looms	loom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	procession	procession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pretend** | past | They |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **work** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | upon empty looms | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | the procession |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They pretended to work upon empty looms

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1683-pg640-part7:e2:o2:1
# text = They pretended to work upon empty looms
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	pretended	pretend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	looms	loom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pretend** | past | They |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **work** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | upon empty looms | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They feigned weaving on bare looms

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1683-pg640-part7:e2:o3:1
# text = They feigned weaving on bare looms
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	feigned	feign	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	weaving	weave	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	looms	loom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feign** | past | They |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **weave** | gerund | They *not said here* |  |  | bare looms |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on loom=Trajectory |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They worked on the empty frames

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1683-pg640-part7:e2:o4:1
# text = They worked on the empty frames
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	worked	work	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	frames	frame	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | past | They |  |  |  |  | on the empty frames | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on frame=Theme |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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