---
title: What quality did the late grand-vizir possess that the Sultan sought… — Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could W… · tree and pragmatics
description: What quality did the late grand-vizir possess that the Sultan sought in his successor? Exam question 2 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 sch
---

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# Exam question 2 · Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could Write, part 16: the m…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What quality did the late grand-vizir possess that the Sultan sought in his successor?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** quality, late grand vizir, Sultan · **What happens:** do, possess, seek · **To what, where:** successor

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 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/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:e2:1
# text = What quality did the late grand-vizir possess that the Sultan sought in his successor?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	obj	_	_
2	quality	quality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
6	grand	grand	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	vizir	vizir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	possess	possess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	sought	seek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	successor	successor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | quality |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 2 | **possess** | present | the late grand vizir |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **seek** | past | the Sultan |  |  | Sultan's successor |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent in successor=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
Skill in beautiful handwriting and knowledge of many ancient languages

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:e2:o1:1
# text = Skill in beautiful handwriting and knowledge of many ancient languages
1	Skill	skill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	handwriting	handwriting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	languages	language	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Skill in beautiful handwriting and sharp wit

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:e2:o2:1
# text = Skill in beautiful handwriting and sharp wit
1	Skill	skill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	handwriting	handwriting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	wit	wit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Skill in beautiful handwriting

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:e2:o3:1
# text = Skill in beautiful handwriting
1	Skill	skill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	handwriting	handwriting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mastery of fine calligraphy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:e2:o4:1
# text = Mastery of fine calligraphy
1	Mastery	mastery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	calligraphy	calligraphy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **master** |  |  | fine calligraphy |  |  |  |  | nom mastery «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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 Monkey Who Could W…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/176-pg128-part16/e1/)
- next →: [Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could W…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/176-pg128-part16/e3/)
- ↑ 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/)