---
title: Which action enabled Alexander to master the horse Bucephalus? — Tales of Honor, Damon and Pythias: a f… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which action enabled Alexander to master the horse Bucephalus? Exam question 4 of lesson 353 «Tales of Honor, Damon and Pythias: a friend offers to take his friend's place in prison» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opt
---

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# Exam question 4 · Tales of Honor, Damon and Pythias: a friend offers to take…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which action enabled Alexander to master the horse Bucephalus?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** action, Alexander · **What happens:** enable, master · **To what, where:** Alexander, horse

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 353 «Tales of Honor, Damon and Pythias: a friend offers to take his friend's place in prison» 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/353-pg18442-part13/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:353-pg18442-part13:e4:1
# text = Which action enabled Alexander to master the horse Bucephalus?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	enabled	enable	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	Alexander	Alexander	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	master	master	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	Bucephalus	Bucephalus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **enable** | past | which action | Alexander |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **master** | to-infinitive | Alexander *not said here* | the horse |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
He directed the horse's gaze toward the sun and then rode it around the field

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:353-pg18442-part13:e4:o1:1
# text = He directed the horse's gaze toward the sun and then rode it around the field
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	directed	direct	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	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	gaze	gaze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	_
12	rode	ride	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	around	around	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **direct** | past | He | the horse's gaze |  |  |  | toward the sun | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent gaze=Eventuality |
| 2 | **ride** | past | He *not said here* | gaze |  | the field | then |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme around field=Trajectory |
| 3 | **gaze** |  | the horse |  |  |  |  |  | nom gaze «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He directed the horse's gaze toward the sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:353-pg18442-part13:e4:o2:1
# text = He directed the horse's gaze toward the sun
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	directed	direct	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	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	gaze	gaze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **direct** | past | He | the horse's gaze |  |  |  | toward the sun | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent gaze=Eventuality |
| 2 | **gaze** |  | the horse |  |  |  |  |  | nom gaze «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He directed the horse's gaze toward the sun while whispering gentle words to it

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:353-pg18442-part13:e4:o3:1
# text = He directed the horse's gaze toward the sun while whispering gentle words to it
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	directed	direct	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	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	gaze	gaze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
10	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	whispering	whisper	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
12	gentle	gentle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **direct** | past | He | the horse's gaze |  |  |  | toward the sun | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent gaze=Eventuality |
| 2 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | gerund | He *not said here* | gentle words | sun |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent word=Topic to it=Recipient |
| 3 | **gaze** |  | the horse |  |  |  |  |  | nom gaze «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He covered the horse's eyes with cloth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:353-pg18442-part13:e4:o4:1
# text = He covered the horse's eyes with cloth
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	covered	cover	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	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | past | He | the horse's eyes |  |  |  | with cloth | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent eye=Destination with cloth=Theme |

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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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