---
title: Which action of the narrator directly caused the horse to take flight? — Arabian Nights, The Story of the Three… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which action of the narrator directly caused the horse to take flight? Exam question 2 of lesson 180 «Arabian Nights, The Story of the Three Calenders, part 20: the Golden Door is opened, a flying horse carries the narrator off and blinds his right eye» of the books course of Mova's primary school, 
---

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# Exam question 2 · Arabian Nights, The Story of the Three Calenders, part 20:…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which action of the narrator directly caused the horse to take flight?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** action, horse, narrator · **What happens:** cause, take, act · **To what, where:** horse, flight

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 180 «Arabian Nights, The Story of the Three Calenders, part 20: the Golden Door is opened, a flying horse carries the narrator off and blinds his right eye» 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/180-pg128-part20/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:180-pg128-part20:e2:1
# text = Which action of the narrator directly caused the horse to take flight?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	narrator	narrator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	directly	directly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	caused	cause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
12	flight	flight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | past | which action of the narrator | the horse |  |  |  | directly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | to-infinitive | the horse *not said here* | flight |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flight=Theme |
| 3 | **act** |  | the narrator |  |  |  |  |  | nom action «act intransitive»: of=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He kicked the horse hard with his heels

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:180-pg128-part20:e2:o1:1
# text = He kicked the horse hard with his heels
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	kicked	kick	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	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	heels	heel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kick** | past | He | the horse |  |  |  | with horse's heels; hard *property* | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent horse=Patient with heel=Instrument |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He touched the horse lightly with a switch and then whispered the magic word into its ear

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:180-pg128-part20:e2:o2:1
# text = He touched the horse lightly with a switch and then whispered the magic word into its ear
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	touched	touch	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	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	lightly	lightly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	switch	switch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
11	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	into	into	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **touch** | past | He | the horse |  |  |  | with a switch; lightly *property* | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent horse=Experiencer with switch=Instrument |
| 2 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | past | He *not said here* | the magic word |  | word's ear | then |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent word=Topic into ear=Recipient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He rode the horse through the gate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:180-pg128-part20:e2:o3:1
# text = He rode the horse through the gate
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	rode	ride	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	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ride** | past | He | the horse |  | the gate |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent horse=Theme through gate=Trajectory |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He touched the horse lightly with a switch

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:180-pg128-part20:e2:o4:1
# text = He touched the horse lightly with a switch
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	touched	touch	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	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	lightly	lightly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	switch	switch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **touch** | past | He | the horse |  |  |  | with a switch; lightly *property* | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent horse=Experiencer with switch=Instrument |

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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 Story of the Three…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/180-pg128-part20/e1/)
- next →: [Arabian Nights, The Story of the Three…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/180-pg128-part20/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Arabian Nights, The Story of the Three Calenders, part 20: the Golden Door is opened, a flying horse carries the narrator off and blinds his right eye](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/180-pg128-part20/)