---
title: Ascertain the agent who, according to the narrative, conveyed the ca… — Just So Stories, The Crab that Played… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the agent who, according to the narrative, conveyed the canoe back into the Perak river. Exam question 2 of lesson 92 «Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 3: the Moon pulls the sea, and how tides really work» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the depen
---

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# Exam question 2 · Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 3…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the agent who, according to the narrative, conveyed the canoe back into the Perak river.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, agent · **What happens:** ascertain, accord, convey back · **To what, where:** agent, canoe, Perak river

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 92 «Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 3: the Moon pulls the sea, and how tides really work» 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/92-justso-crab-3-the-moon-pulls-the-sea/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:92-justso-crab-3-the-moon-pulls-the-sea:e2:1
# text = Ascertain the agent who, according to the narrative, conveyed the canoe back into the Perak river.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	agent	agent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
6	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	case	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	narrative	narrative	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
11	conveyed	convey	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	back	back	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
15	into	into	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	Perak	Perak	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the agent |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent agent=Topic |
| 2 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **convey back** | past | the agent | the canoe |  | the Perak river |  | accord the narrative | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent canoe=Topic |

<!-- .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 Eldest Magician's son

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:92-justso-crab-3-the-moon-pulls-the-sea:e2:o1:1
# text = The Eldest Magician's son
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	Eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	amod	_	_
3	Magician	Magician	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Sea, which carried the canoe back with the tide that always comes twice a day

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:92-justso-crab-3-the-moon-pulls-the-sea:e2:o2:1
# text = The Sea, which carried the canoe back with the tide that always comes twice a day
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Sea	Sea	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	back	back	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	tide	tide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
13	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	14	advmod	_	_
14	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	14	advmod	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry back** | past | the Sea | the canoe |  |  |  | with the tide | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent canoe=Theme |
| 2 | **come** | present | the tide |  |  |  | day | always, twice *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Fisherman of the Moon, who pulled the sea with his line

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:92-justso-crab-3-the-moon-pulls-the-sea:e2:o3:1
# text = The Fisherman of the Moon, who pulled the sea with his line
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Fisherman	Fisherman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	pulled	pull	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	line	line	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** | past | the Fisherman of the Moon | the sea |  |  |  | with Fisherman's line | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sea=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Fisherman of the Moon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:92-justso-crab-3-the-moon-pulls-the-sea:e2:o4:1
# text = The Fisherman of the Moon
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Fisherman	Fisherman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Just So Stories, The Crab that Played…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/92-justso-crab-3-the-moon-pulls-the-sea/e1/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, The Crab that Played…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/92-justso-crab-3-the-moon-pulls-the-sea/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 3: the Moon pulls the sea, and how tides really work](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/92-justso-crab-3-the-moon-pulls-the-sea/)