---
title: Which agent was responsible for recognising the ducklings by their o… — Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which agent was responsible for recognising the ducklings by their odour? Exam question 1 of lesson 1713 «Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants, part 37: three sons guard the magic fruit» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of ea
---

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# Exam question 1 · Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants, part 37: three son…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which agent was responsible for recognising the ducklings by their odour?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** agent · **What happens:** be, recognise · **To what, where:** ducklings

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 1713 «Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants, part 37: three sons guard the magic fruit» 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/1713-pg640-part37/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1713-pg640-part37:e1:1
# text = Which agent was responsible for recognising the ducklings by their odour?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	agent	agent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	responsible	responsible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	recognising	recognise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	ducklings	duckling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	odour	odour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | which agent |  |  |  |  | responsible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **recognise** | gerund | which agent *not said here* | the ducklings |  |  |  | by ducklings's odour | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer duckling=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 -->
The servant

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1713-pg640-part37:e1:o1:1
# text = The servant
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The duck

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1713-pg640-part37:e1:o2:1
# text = The duck
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wicked old witch of the palace

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1713-pg640-part37:e1:o3:1
# text = The wicked old witch of the palace
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The witch

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1713-pg640-part37:e1:o4:1
# text = The witch
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	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: [Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants…, test 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1713-pg640-part37/t15/)
- next →: [Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1713-pg640-part37/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants, part 37: three sons guard the magic fruit](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1713-pg640-part37/)