---
title: Upon whose instruction was the stranger's dog despatched to retrieve… — Folk-Tales, The Shepherd and the Drago… · tree and pragmatics
description: Upon whose instruction was the stranger's dog despatched to retrieve nourishment from the palace? Exam question 3 of lesson 1941 «Folk-Tales, The Shepherd and the Dragon: the shepherd's dog slays the dragon, the false coachman takes the reward, and the shepherd returns to win the princess back» of t
---

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# Exam question 3 · Folk-Tales, The Shepherd and the Dragon: the shepherd's do…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Upon whose instruction was the stranger's dog despatched to retrieve nourishment from the palace?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** dog · **What happens:** be, despatch, retrieve · **To what, where:** dog, nourishment, palace

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 1941 «Folk-Tales, The Shepherd and the Dragon: the shepherd's dog slays the dragon, the false coachman takes the reward, and the shepherd returns to win the princess back» 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/1941-pg7277-part78/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1941-pg7277-part78:e3:1
# text = Upon whose instruction was the stranger's dog despatched to retrieve nourishment from the palace?
1	Upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	instruction	instruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	despatched	despatch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	retrieve	retrieve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	nourishment	nourishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the stranger's dog |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **despatch** | past | the stranger's dog |  |  |  |  | upon instruction | tree rules |
| 3 | **retrieve** | to-infinitive | the stranger's dog *not said here* | nourishment |  | the palace |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent nourishment=Theme from palace=Source |

<!-- .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 coachman's secret order

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1941-pg7277-part78:e3:o1:1
# text = the coachman's secret order
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	coachman	coachman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **order** |  | the coachman |  |  |  |  |  | nom order «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the princess's quiet plea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1941-pg7277-part78:e3:o2:1
# text = the princess's quiet plea
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	plea	plea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the stranger's own command

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1941-pg7277-part78:e3:o3:1
# text = the stranger's own command
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **command** |  | the stranger |  |  |  |  |  | nom command «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the stranger's own command, given from his cell

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1941-pg7277-part78:e3:o4:1
# text = the stranger's own command, given from his cell
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	cell	cell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | participle |  | the stranger's own command *not said here* |  | his cell |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **command** |  | the stranger |  |  |  |  |  | nom command «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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: [Folk-Tales, The Shepherd and the Drago…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1941-pg7277-part78/e2/)
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