---
title: It is given that the Badger entrusted a task to the Mole in preferen… — The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII,… · tree and pragmatics
description: It is given that the Badger entrusted a task to the Mole in preference to the Rat. State the reason he advanced. Exam question 3 of lesson 71 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 2: The Return of Ulysses (four Heroes, five minutes and clean sheets)» of the books course of Mova's primary schoo
---

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# Exam question 3 · The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 2: The Return o…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is given that the Badger entrusted a task to the Mole in preference to the Rat. State the reason he advanced.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Badger · **What happens:** give, entrust, advance · **To what, where:** It, task, Mole, reason

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 71 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 2: The Return of Ulysses (four Heroes, five minutes and clean sheets)» 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/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/#e3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* It is given that the Badger entrusted a task to the Mole in preference to the Rat.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall:e3:1
# text = It is given that the Badger entrusted a task to the Mole in preference to the Rat.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Badger	Badger	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	entrusted	entrust	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Mole	mole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	preference	preference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Rat	Rat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **entrust** | past | the Badger | a task | the Mole in preference to the Rat |  |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent task=Theme to mole=Recipient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* State the reason he advanced.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall:e3:2
# text = State the reason he advanced.
1	State	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	advanced	advance	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **advance** | past | Badger | the reason *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer reason=Patient |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rat was lazy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall:e3:o1:1
# text = Rat was lazy
1	Rat	Rat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	lazy	lazy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Rat |  |  |  |  | lazy *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rat was too far away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall:e3:o2:1
# text = Rat was too far away
1	Rat	Rat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Rat |  |  |  |  | away, far *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That the Rat was a poet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall:e3:o3:1
# text = That the Rat was a poet
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Rat	Rat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	poet	poet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the Rat | a poet |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rat is a poet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall:e3:o4:1
# text = Rat is a poet
1	Rat	Rat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	poet	poet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Rat | a poet |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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 XII,…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/e2/)
- next →: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII,…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/e4/)
- ↑ back to [The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 2: The Return of Ulysses (four Heroes, five minutes and clean sheets)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/)