---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Abraham, Isaac and Jacob · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the conduct of Esau upon meeting Jacob after many years? Exam question 4 of lesson 4 «Abraham, Isaac and Jacob» of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the conduct of Esau upon meeting Jacob after many years?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** conduct · **What happens:** follow, characteris, meet, conduct · **To what, where:** conduct, Jacob, Esau

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 4 «Abraham, Isaac and Jacob» of the religion ethics 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/religion-ethics/4-abraham-isaac-and-jacob/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:4-abraham-isaac-and-jacob:e4:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the conduct of Esau upon meeting Jacob after many years?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	conduct	conduct	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Esau	Esau	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	upon	upon	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	meeting	meet	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
15	Jacob	Jacob	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
16	after	after	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the conduct of Esau |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **meet** | gerund | the conduct of Esau *not said here* | Jacob |  |  | year |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent jacob=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **conduct** |  |  | Esau |  |  |  |  | nom conduct «act 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He declined to speak with his brother at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:4-abraham-isaac-and-jacob:e4:o1:1
# text = He declined to speak with his brother at all
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	declined	decline	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decline** | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | He *not said here* |  |  | all |  | with his brother | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with brother=Co-Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He demanded payment in compensation for his loss

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:4-abraham-isaac-and-jacob:e4:o2:1
# text = He demanded payment in compensation for his loss
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	demanded	demand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	payment	payment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	compensation	compensation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **demand** *speech: request* | past | He | payment |  | compensation |  | for his loss | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme payment=Precondition |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He embraced his brother rather than exacting vengeance

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:4-abraham-isaac-and-jacob:e4:o3:1
# text = He embraced his brother rather than exacting vengeance
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	embraced	embrace	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	7	cc	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	5	fixed	_	_
7	exacting	exact	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
8	vengeance	vengeance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **embrace** | past | He | his brother |  |  |  |  | vn marry-36.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brother=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **exact** | gerund | He *not said here* | vengeance |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vengeance=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He reclaimed his birthright by force of arms

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:4-abraham-isaac-and-jacob:e4:o4:1
# text = He reclaimed his birthright by force of arms
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	reclaimed	reclaim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	birthright	birthright	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reclaim** | past | He | his birthright |  |  |  | by force of arms | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent birthright=Theme |

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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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