---
title: With reference to the passage, what was the immediate cause of Simon… — Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: With reference to the passage, what was the immediate cause of Simon's decision to give away the mule? Exam question 1 of lesson 1906 «Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1: Simon buys a mule that three rogues swear is a donkey» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tre
---

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# Exam question 1 · Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1: Simon buys a mule…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With reference to the passage, what was the immediate cause of Simon's decision to give away the mule?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** passage, Simon · **What happens:** be, give away, decide · **To what, where:** immediate cause, mule

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 1906 «Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1: Simon buys a mule that three rogues swear is a donkey» 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/1906-pg7277-part43/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:e1:1
# text = With reference to the passage, what was the immediate cause of Simon's decision to give away the mule?
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	reference	reference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	11	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	immediate	immediate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	Simon	Simon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	decision	decision	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	acl	_	_
18	away	away	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	mule	mule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the passage and the immediate cause | the immediate cause |  |  |  | of Simon's decision | tree rules |
| 2 | **give away** | to-infinitive |  | the mule |  |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent mule=Theme |
| 3 | **decide** |  | Simon |  |  |  |  |  | nom decision «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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was tricked

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:e1:o1:1
# text = He was tricked
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	tricked	trick	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trick** | past · passive |  | He |  |  |  |  | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was persuaded by the rogues that the animal was only a donkey

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:e1:o2:1
# text = He was persuaded by the rogues that the animal was only a donkey
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	persuaded	persuade	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	rogues	rogue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	only	only	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **persuade** | past · passive | the rogues | He |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the rogues | a donkey |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A donkey was sold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:e1:o3:1
# text = A donkey was sold
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	sold	sell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sell** | past · passive |  | a donkey |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was persuaded by three separate men that it was a donkey

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:e1:o4:1
# text = He was persuaded by three separate men that it was a donkey
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	persuaded	persuade	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
6	separate	separate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **persuade** | past · passive | three separate men | He |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | it | a donkey |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
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