---
title: Ascertain the nature of the seafarer's trade as described by himself. — The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, p… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the nature of the seafarer's trade as described by himself. Exam question 3 of lesson 58 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 3: Wayfarers All (the Sea Rat from Constantinople)» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and 
---

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# Exam question 3 · The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 3: Wayfarers All…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the nature of the seafarer's trade as described by himself.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, seafarer · **What happens:** ascertain, describe, trade · **To what, where:** nature

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 58 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 3: Wayfarers All (the Sea Rat from Constantinople)» 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/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the nature of the seafarer's trade as described by himself.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	seafarer	seafarer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
9	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
10	described	describe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	advcl	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the nature of the seafarer's trade |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nature=Topic |
| 2 | **describe** | participle | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by himself *= he* | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **trade** |  | the seafarer |  |  |  |  |  | nom trade «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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The coasting trade, seldom out of sight of land, which he took up after his first voyage as a boy in Norway

<!-- fold The tree, 22 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat:e3:o1:1
# text = The coasting trade, seldom out of sight of land, which he took up after his first voyage as a boy in Norway
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	coasting	coasting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	up	up	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	after	after	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	19	amod	_	_
19	voyage	voyage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	as	as	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	Norway	Norway	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take up** | past | the coasting trade and sight of land |  |  |  | after his first voyage | as a boy in Norway | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent as boy=Attribute |
| 2 | **sight** |  |  | land |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 3 | **voyage** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom voyage «act transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Trading along the rivers and inland canals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat:e3:o2:1
# text = Trading along the rivers and inland canals
1	Trading	trading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	along	along	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	inland	inland	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	canals	canal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The coasting trade, seldom out of sight of land

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat:e3:o3:1
# text = The coasting trade, seldom out of sight of land
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	coasting	coasting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sight** |  |  | land |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Carrying cargo between distant foreign ports

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat:e3:o4:1
# text = Carrying cargo between distant foreign ports
1	Carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	cargo	cargo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	between	between	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	distant	distant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	foreign	foreign	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	ports	port	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry** | gerund |  | cargo |  |  |  | between distant foreign ports | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cargo=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, p…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/e2/)
- next →: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, p…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/e4/)
- ↑ back to [The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 3: Wayfarers All (the Sea Rat from Constantinople)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/)