---
title: On what grounds did Conall petition the king of Lochlann for mercy? — Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw,… · tree and pragmatics
description: On what grounds did Conall petition the king of Lochlann for mercy? Exam question 1 of lesson 1989 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, part 8: a theft from the king's stable, then a tale of cats» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questio
---

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# Exam question 1 · Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, part 8: a theft fro…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On what grounds did Conall petition the king of Lochlann for mercy?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** grounds · **What happens:** do · **To what, where:** Conall petition

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 1989 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, part 8: a theft from the king's stable, then a tale of cats» 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/1989-pg7885-part8/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1989-pg7885-part8:e1:1
# text = On what grounds did Conall petition the king of Lochlann for mercy?
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
3	grounds	grounds	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	Conall	Conall	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	petition	petition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Lochlann	Lochlann	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | grounds | Conall petition |  |  |  | for mercy | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
On the grounds that his sons faced execution and his land was lost

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1989-pg7885-part8:e1:o1:1
# text = On the grounds that his sons faced execution and his land was lost
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	grounds	grounds	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	obj	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	faced	face	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
8	execution	execution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **face** | past | his sons | the grounds |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lose** | past · passive |  | his land |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On the grounds that his sons were innocent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1989-pg7885-part8:e1:o2:1
# text = On the grounds that his sons were innocent
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	grounds	grounds	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	innocent	innocent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the grounds |  |  |  |  | innocent *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On the grounds that his sons faced execution

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1989-pg7885-part8:e1:o3:1
# text = On the grounds that his sons faced execution
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	grounds	grounds	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	faced	faced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	execution	execution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **execution** |  | the grounds |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On the grounds that his sons faced execution at the king's own command

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1989-pg7885-part8:e1:o4:1
# text = On the grounds that his sons faced execution at the king's own command
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	grounds	grounds	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	obj	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	faced	face	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
8	execution	execution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **face** | past | his sons | the grounds |  | the king's own command |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **command** |  | the king |  |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw,…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1989-pg7885-part8/t12/)
- next →: [Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw,…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1989-pg7885-part8/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, part 8: a theft from the king's stable, then a tale of cats](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1989-pg7885-part8/)