---
title: By what means does the narrator conceal his understanding of animal… — Jungle Book, Her Majesty's Servants, p… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means does the narrator conceal his understanding of animal speech from his dog? Exam question 4 of lesson 631 «Jungle Book, Her Majesty's Servants, part 32: animals quarrel in the dark about fear until a little dog stops the elephant» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the d
---

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# Exam question 4 · Jungle Book, Her Majesty's Servants, part 32: animals quar…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means does the narrator conceal his understanding of animal speech from his dog?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** narrator · **What happens:** mean, conceal, understand · **To what, where:** understanding, animal speech

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 631 «Jungle Book, Her Majesty's Servants, part 32: animals quarrel in the dark about fear until a little dog stops the elephant» 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/631-pg236-part32/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:631-pg236-part32:e4:1
# text = By what means does the narrator conceal his understanding of animal speech from his dog?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	obl	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
4	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	narrator	narrator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	conceal	conceal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	understanding	understanding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **conceal** | present · do-support | the narrator | narrator's understanding of animal speech |  |  |  | from narrator's dog | vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent understanding=Patient from dog=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **understand** |  | narrator | animal speech |  |  |  |  | nom understanding «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
By pretending that he cannot understand any beast at all, ever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:631-pg236-part32:e4:o1:1
# text = By pretending that he cannot understand any beast at all, ever
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	pretending	pretend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
8	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
9	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pretend** | gerund |  |  |  |  | ever |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **understand** | can | he | any beast |  | all |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer beast=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He never lets her know, and speaks only in English at home

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:631-pg236-part32:e4:o2:1
# text = He never lets her know, and speaks only in English at home
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	lets	let	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	speaks	speak	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **let** | present | He | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | infinitive | her *= she* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | He *not said here* | English |  | home |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He never lets her know

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:631-pg236-part32:e4:o3:1
# text = He never lets her know
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	lets	let	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **let** | present | He | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | infinitive | her *= she* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By speaking English only

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:631-pg236-part32:e4:o4:1
# text = By speaking English only
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | gerund |  | English |  |  |  |  | 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: [Jungle Book, Her Majesty's Servants, p…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/631-pg236-part32/e3/)
- next →: [Jungle Book, Animals in War, part 33:…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/632-pg236-part33/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Jungle Book, Her Majesty's Servants, part 32: animals quarrel in the dark about fear until a little dog stops the elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/631-pg236-part32/)