---
title: Which action did the narrator take to secure the captain's protection? — Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could W… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which action did the narrator take to secure the captain's protection? Exam question 1 of lesson 176 «Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could Write, part 16: the monkey's handwriting wins the Sultan's favour, and the princess reveals his secret» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the de
---

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# Exam question 1 · Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could Write, part 16: the m…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which action did the narrator take to secure the captain's protection?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** action, captain · **What happens:** take, secure, protect · **To what, where:** protection

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 176 «Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could Write, part 16: the monkey's handwriting wins the Sultan's favour, and the princess reveals his secret» 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/176-pg128-part16/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:e1:1
# text = Which action did the narrator take to secure the captain's protection?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	narrator	narrator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	secure	secure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	protection	protection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past · do-support | which action |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **secure** | to-infinitive | which action *not said here* | the captain's protection |  |  |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition protection=Theme |
| 3 | **protect** |  | the captain |  |  |  |  |  | nom protection «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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He grasped the captain's garment firmly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:e1:o1:1
# text = He grasped the captain's garment firmly
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	grasped	grasp	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	garment	garment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	firmly	firmly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grasp** | past | He | the captain's garment |  |  |  | firmly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer garment=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He pulled the captain's sleeve gently

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:e1:o2:1
# text = He pulled the captain's sleeve gently
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	pulled	pull	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	sleeve	sleeve	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** | past | He | the captain's sleeve |  |  |  | gently *property* | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sleeve=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He clutched the captain's robe and pleaded for a pardon from the Sultan

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:e1:o3:1
# text = He clutched the captain's robe and pleaded for a pardon from the Sultan
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	clutched	clutch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	robe	robe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	pleaded	plead	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	pardon	pardon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clutch** | past | He | the captain's robe |  |  |  |  | vn hold-15.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent robe=Theme |
| 2 | **plead** *speech: request* | past | He *not said here* |  |  | the Sultan |  | for a pardon | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He grasped the captain's garment firmly and begged for mercy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:e1:o4:1
# text = He grasped the captain's garment firmly and begged for mercy
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	grasped	grasp	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	garment	garment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	firmly	firmly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	begged	beg	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grasp** | past | He | the captain's garment |  |  |  | firmly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer garment=Stimulus |
| 2 | **beg** *speech: request* | participle | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for mercy | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent for mercy=Topic |

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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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- ← previous: [Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could W…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/176-pg128-part16/t12/)
- next →: [Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could W…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/176-pg128-part16/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could Write, part 16: the monkey's handwriting wins the Sultan's favour, and the princess reveals his secret](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/176-pg128-part16/)