---
title: What stratagem did Brer Fox employ to excuse his failure to devour t… — Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzz… · tree and pragmatics
description: What stratagem did Brer Fox employ to excuse his failure to devour the little rabbits? Exam question 2 of lesson 580 «Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit tricks Buzzard into carrying him home from the island» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tr
---

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# Exam question 2 · Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What stratagem did Brer Fox employ to excuse his failure to devour the little rabbits?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Brer · **What happens:** fox, excuse, devour, fail · **To what, where:** employ, failure, little rabbits

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 580 «Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit tricks Buzzard into carrying him home from the island» 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/580-pg2306-part16/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:580-pg2306-part16:e2:1
# text = What stratagem did Brer Fox employ to excuse his failure to devour the little rabbits?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obl	_	_
2	stratagem	stratagem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	Fox	fox	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	employ	employ	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	excuse	excuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	failure	failure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	devour	devour	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fox** | past · do-support | Brer | employ |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **excuse** | to-infinitive | Brer *not said here* | Brer's failure |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent failure=Theme |
| 3 | **devour** | to-infinitive | Brer *not said here* | the little rabbits |  |  |  |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rabbit=Patient |
| 4 | **fail** |  | Brer |  |  |  |  |  | nom failure «act intransitive»: 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He invented impossible tasks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:580-pg2306-part16:e2:o1:1
# text = He invented impossible tasks
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	invented	invent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	tasks	task	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invent** | past | He | impossible tasks |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent task=Result |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He made up tasks the young rabbits could not finish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:580-pg2306-part16:e2:o2:1
# text = He made up tasks the young rabbits could not finish
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	csubj	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	tasks	task	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	finish	finish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make up** | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **task** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **finish** | could | the young rabbits |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He contrived a series of tasks which the young rabbits could not complete

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:580-pg2306-part16:e2:o3:1
# text = He contrived a series of tasks which the young rabbits could not complete
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	contrived	contrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	series	series	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	tasks	task	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	complete	complete	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contrive** | past | He | a series of tasks |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent series=Result |
| 2 | **not** **complete** | could | the young rabbits | tasks |  |  |  |  | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He invented a set of chores the young rabbits could not do

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:580-pg2306-part16:e2:o4:1
# text = He invented a set of chores the young rabbits could not do
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	invented	invent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	set	set	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	chores	chore	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invent** | past | He | a set of chores |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent set=Result |
| 2 | **not** **do** | could | the young rabbits |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=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: [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzz…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/580-pg2306-part16/e1/)
- next →: [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzz…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/580-pg2306-part16/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit tricks Buzzard into carrying him home from the island](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/580-pg2306-part16/)