---
title: Ascertain the meaning of the expression «a month of Sundays». — Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved»,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the meaning of the expression «a month of Sundays». Exam question 4 of lesson 42 «Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved», the 'Stute Fish, «Humph!» and the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questi
---

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# Exam question 4 · Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved», the 'Stute Fish, «Hu…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the meaning of the expression «a month of Sundays».

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, mean · **To what, where:** meaning, expression

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 42 «Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved», the 'Stute Fish, «Humph!» and the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo» of the language 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/language/42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the meaning of the expression «a month of Sundays».
1	Ascertain	ascertain	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	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Sundays	Sunday	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	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 meaning of the expression |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic |
| 2 | **mean** |  |  | the expression |  |  |  |  | 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A very long period of time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo:e4:o1:1
# text = A very long period of time
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	very	very	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A month without any working days

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo:e4:o2:1
# text = A month without any working days
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	without	without	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
5	working	working	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A period of exactly four weeks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo:e4:o3:1
# text = A period of exactly four weeks
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A holiday taken on Sundays

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo:e4:o4:1
# text = A holiday taken on Sundays
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	holiday	holiday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Sundays	Sunday	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	3	obl:agent	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | participle |  | a holiday *not said here* |  |  | sunday |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: 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.

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- ← previous: [Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved»,…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo/e3/)
- next →: [Pan, panic and Ulysses: the old myths…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/43-pan-panic-and-ulysses-the-old-myths-and-old-words-inside-the-wind-in-the-willows/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved», the 'Stute Fish, «Humph!» and the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo/)