---
title: Identify the material upon which Taffy executed her drawing. — Just So Stories, How the First Letter… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the material upon which Taffy executed her drawing. Exam question 1 of lesson 84 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark» 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 1 · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1:…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the material upon which Taffy executed her drawing.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, Taffy · **What happens:** identify, execute, draw · **To what, where:** material, drawing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 84 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark» 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/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:e1:1
# text = Identify the material upon which Taffy executed her drawing.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	material	material	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	obl	_	_
6	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	executed	execute	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	drawing	drawing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the material |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent material=Theme |
| 2 | **execute** | past | Taffy | Taffy's drawing |  |  |  | upon the material | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent drawing=Patient |
| 3 | **draw** |  | Taffy |  |  |  |  |  | nom drawing «communication 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A large flat piece of white birch-bark, carefully cut from a tree near the swamp

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:e1:o1:1
# text = A large flat piece of white birch-bark, carefully cut from a tree near the swamp
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
7	birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	carefully	carefully	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	near	near	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	swamp	swamp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | participle |  | a large flat piece of white birch bark *not said here* |  | a tree |  | near the swamp; carefully *property* | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from tree=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A piece of wet river mud

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:e1:o2:1
# text = A piece of wet river mud
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	wet	wet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A sheet of smooth clay

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:e1:o3:1
# text = A sheet of smooth clay
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sheet	sheet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A flat piece of birch-bark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:e1:o4:1
# text = A flat piece of birch-bark
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .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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- ← previous: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/t17/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/)