---
title: Which instrument, when first played, caused the hangman and his assi… — Yellow Fairy Book, The Magic Horse: mu… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which instrument, when first played, caused the hangman and his assistant to commence dancing? Exam question 2 of lesson 683 «Yellow Fairy Book, The Magic Horse: music saves the youth from the gallows, and he is made king» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pr
---

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# Exam question 2 · Yellow Fairy Book, The Magic Horse: music saves the youth…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which instrument, when first played, caused the hangman and his assistant to commence dancing?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** instrument · **What happens:** play, cause, commence · **To what, where:** hangman, dancing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 683 «Yellow Fairy Book, The Magic Horse: music saves the youth from the gallows, and he is made king» 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/683-pg2435-part23/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:683-pg2435-part23:e2:1
# text = Which instrument, when first played, caused the hangman and his assistant to commence dancing?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	instrument	instrument	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
5	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	advmod	_	_
6	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	caused	cause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	hangman	hangman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	assistant	assistant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	commence	commence	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
16	dancing	dancing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | past | which instrument |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **cause** | past | which instrument *not said here* | the hangman and instrument's assistant |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition hangman=Patient |
| 3 | **commence** | to-infinitive | which instrument *not said here* | dancing |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dancing=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 -->
The bagpipe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:683-pg2435-part23:e2:o1:1
# text = The bagpipe
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bagpipe	bagpipe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The zither

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:683-pg2435-part23:e2:o2:1
# text = The zither
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	zither	zither	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The small zither that the youth carried in his hand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:683-pg2435-part23:e2:o3:1
# text = The small zither that the youth carried in his hand
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	zither	zither	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry** | participle · passive | the small zither *not said here* | the youth |  | his hand |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Value in hand=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The trumpet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:683-pg2435-part23:e2:o4:1
# text = The trumpet
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	trumpet	trumpet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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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