---
title: What did the sovereign assert regarding the sole ruler capable of go… — Stories of Old England, King Canute on… · tree and pragmatics
description: What did the sovereign assert regarding the sole ruler capable of governing the sea? Exam question 4 of lesson 342 «Stories of Old England, King Canute on the Seashore: Canute orders the sea to stop and gets soaked» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatic
---

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# Exam question 4 · Stories of Old England, King Canute on the Seashore: Canut…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What did the sovereign assert regarding the sole ruler capable of governing the sea?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** sovereign · **What happens:** assert, regard, govern · **To what, where:** sole ruler, sea

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 342 «Stories of Old England, King Canute on the Seashore: Canute orders the sea to stop and gets soaked» 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/342-pg18442-part2/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:342-pg18442-part2:e4:1
# text = What did the sovereign assert regarding the sole ruler capable of governing the sea?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sovereign	sovereign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	assert	assert	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	regarding	regard	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	csubj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	sole	sole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	ruler	ruler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	capable	capable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
11	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	governing	govern	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **assert** | past · do-support | the sovereign |  |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme |
| 2 | **regard** | gerund |  | the sole ruler |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ruler=Theme |
| 3 | **govern** | gerund | the sovereign *not said here* | the sea |  |  |  |  | vn supervision-95.2.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent sea=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
That one King is all-powerful and the sea must obey him alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:342-pg18442-part2:e4:o1:1
# text = That one King is all-powerful and the sea must obey him alone
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	all	all	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	obey	obey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | one King |  |  |  |  | all, powerful *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **obey** | must | the sea | King |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That no king on earth, not even he, can command the tides of the sea

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:342-pg18442-part2:e4:o2:1
# text = That no king on earth, not even he, can command the tides of the sea
1	That	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	even	even	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	command	command	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	tides	tide	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **command** | can | that king on earth  he | the tides of the sea |  |  |  |  | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent tide=Eventuality |
| 2 | **tide** |  | the sea |  |  |  |  |  | nom tide «event intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That one man rules the land

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:342-pg18442-part2:e4:o3:1
# text = That one man rules the land
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That one King is all-powerful

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:342-pg18442-part2:e4:o4:1
# text = That one King is all-powerful
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	all	all	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | one King |  |  |  |  | all, powerful *property* | tree rules |

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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: [Stories of Old England, King Canute on…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/342-pg18442-part2/e3/)
- next →: [Old English Tales, Robin Hood and Alli…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/344-pg18442-part4/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Stories of Old England, King Canute on the Seashore: Canute orders the sea to stop and gets soaked](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/342-pg18442-part2/)