---
title: What was the eventual cause of the prince's downfall? — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Wild Swans… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the eventual cause of the prince's downfall? Exam question 2 of lesson 1020 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Wild Swans, part 231: a proud prince is beaten by a gnat; a wicked queen plots against Eliza» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the
---

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# Exam question 2 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Wild Swans, part 231: a proud…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the eventual cause of the prince's downfall?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** eventual cause

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1020 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Wild Swans, part 231: a proud prince is beaten by a gnat; a wicked queen plots against Eliza» 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/1020-pg27200-part231/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1020-pg27200-part231:e2:1
# text = What was the eventual cause of the prince's downfall?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	eventual	eventual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	downfall	downfall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the eventual cause |  |  |  | of the prince's downfall | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
An arrow from a distant archer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1020-pg27200-part231:e2:o1:1
# text = An arrow from a distant archer
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	arrow	arrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	distant	distant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	archer	archer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A single small gnat that crawled into his ear and stung him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1020-pg27200-part231:e2:o2:1
# text = A single small gnat that crawled into his ear and stung him
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	gnat	gnat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	crawled	crawl	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
11	stung	sting	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **crawl** | past | a single small gnat |  |  | gnat's ear |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into ear=Destination |
| 2 | **sting** | past | a single small gnat | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A single gnat that stung his ear

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1020-pg27200-part231:e2:o3:1
# text = A single gnat that stung his ear
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	gnat	gnat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	stung	sting	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sting** | past | a single gnat | gnat's ear |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus ear=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A tiny insect that flew into the palace and hid inside his golden helmet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1020-pg27200-part231:e2:o4:1
# text = A tiny insect that flew into the palace and hid inside his golden helmet
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	insect	insect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
10	hid	hide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	helmet	helmet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past | a tiny insect |  |  |  |  | into the palace *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into palace=Result |
| 2 | **hide** | past | a tiny insect |  |  | insect's golden helmet |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent inside helmet=Location |

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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: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Wild Swans…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1020-pg27200-part231/e1/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Wild Swans…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1020-pg27200-part231/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Wild Swans, part 231: a proud prince is beaten by a gnat; a wicked queen plots against Eliza](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1020-pg27200-part231/)