---
title: Identify the principal trait demonstrated by a character who assists… — Reading a story: characters, plot and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal trait demonstrated by a character who assists a hostile, hissing kitten. Exam question 1 of lesson 22 «Reading a story: characters, plot and setting» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mov
---

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# Exam question 1 · Reading a story: characters, plot and setting

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal trait demonstrated by a character who assists a hostile, hissing kitten.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, character · **What happens:** identify, demonstrate, assist, hiss · **To what, where:** principal trait, hostile, kitten

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 22 «Reading a story: characters, plot and setting» of the English 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/english/22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal trait demonstrated by a character who assists a hostile, hissing kitten.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	trait	trait	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	demonstrated	demonstrate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	character	character	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	assists	assist	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	hostile	hostile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	hissing	hiss	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
15	kitten	kitten	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	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 principal trait |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent trait=Theme |
| 2 | **demonstrate** | participle |  | the principal trait *not said here* |  |  |  | by a character | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **assist** | present | a character | a hostile |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hostile=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **hiss** | gerund | a character *not said here* | kitten |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kitten=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Greed, in that she hoped to sell the animal for a sum of money

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting:e1:o1:1
# text = Greed, in that she hoped to sell the animal for a sum of money
1	Greed	greed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	1	nmod	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	hoped	hope	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	sell	sell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sum	sum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hope** | past | Greed in that |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **sell** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Greed in that *not said here* | the animal |  |  |  | for a sum of money | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent animal=Theme for sum=Asset |
| 3 | **sum** |  |  | money |  |  |  |  | nom sum «possession transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cowardice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting:e1:o2:1
# text = Cowardice
1	Cowardice	cowardice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Kindness and patience

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting:e1:o3:1
# text = Kindness and patience
1	Kindness	kindness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	patience	patience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Indifference

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting:e1:o4:1
# text = Indifference
1	Indifference	Indifference	PROPN	NNP	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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- next →: [Reading a story: characters, plot and…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Reading a story: characters, plot and setting](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting/)