---
title: Identify the meaning of the term misdirection as employed in conjuri… — April Fools' Day and how magic tricks… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the meaning of the term misdirection as employed in conjuring. Exam question 2 of lesson 279 «April Fools' Day and how magic tricks work» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Exam question 2 · April Fools' Day and how magic tricks work

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the meaning of the term misdirection as employed in conjuring.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, employ, conjure, mean · **To what, where:** meaning, term misdirection

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 279 «April Fools' Day and how magic tricks work» of the everyday 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/everyday/279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks:e2:1
# text = Identify the meaning of the term misdirection as employed in conjuring.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	term	term	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	misdirection	misdirection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	advcl	_	_
10	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	conjuring	conjure	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	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 meaning of the term misdirection |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme |
| 2 | **employ** | participle | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **conjure** | gerund | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **mean** |  |  | the term misdirection |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 deliberate selection of the wrong card by the magician to confuse the audience

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks:e2:o1:1
# text = The deliberate selection of the wrong card by the magician to confuse the audience
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	deliberate	deliberate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	selection	selection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	card	card	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	magician	magician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	confuse	confuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	acl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	audience	audience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **confuse** | to-infinitive |  | the audience |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent audience=Patient |
| 2 | **select** |  | the magician | the wrong card |  |  |  |  | nom selection «act transitive»: of=patient by=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The giving of false directions to the theatre

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks:e2:o2:1
# text = The giving of false directions to the theatre
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	giving	give	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	false	false	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	directions	direction	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	theatre	theatre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | gerund |  |  | the theatre |  |  | of false directions | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to theatre=Recipient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The steering of the audience's attention away from the secret move

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks:e2:o3:1
# text = The steering of the audience's attention away from the secret move
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	steering	steering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	audience	audience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	attention	attention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	away	away	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	move	move	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **steer** |  |  | the audience's attention |  |  |  |  | nom steering «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 2 | **attend** |  | the audience |  |  |  |  |  | nom attention «cognition intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The practice of performing in poor light

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks:e2:o4:1
# text = The practice of performing in poor light
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	practice	practice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	performing	perform	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perform** | gerund | the practice *not said here* |  |  | poor light |  |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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