---
title: With reference to the passage, what is the sparrows' principal griev… — Andersen's Tales, The Story of the Yea… · tree and pragmatics
description: With reference to the passage, what is the sparrows' principal grievance concerning the newly commenced year, as expressed in their own words? Exam question 2 of lesson 1031 «Andersen's Tales, The Story of the Year: sparrows, Winter and the two children of Spring» of the books course of Mova's prima
---

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# Exam question 2 · Andersen's Tales, The Story of the Year: sparrows, Winter…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With reference to the passage, what is the sparrows' principal grievance concerning the newly commenced year, as expressed in their own words?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** passage, principal grievance, sparrows · **What happens:** be, concern, commence, express, word · **To what, where:** principal grievance, own words

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1031 «Andersen's Tales, The Story of the Year: sparrows, Winter and the two children of Spring» 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/1031-pg27200-part242/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1031-pg27200-part242:e2:1
# text = With reference to the passage, what is the sparrows' principal grievance concerning the newly commenced year, as expressed in their own words?
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	reference	reference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	13	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	'	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	grievance	grievance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
14	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
16	newly	newly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	commenced	commence	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	amod	_	_
18	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
21	expressed	express	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the passage and the sparrows's principal grievance | the sparrows's principal grievance |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **concern** | gerund | the sparrows's principal grievance *not said here* |  |  |  | year |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **commence** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | newly *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **express** | participle | the sparrows's principal grievance *not said here* |  |  | sparrows's own words |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **word** |  | sparrows *= sparrow* |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That the new year is no better, and indeed worse, than the old one

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1031-pg27200-part242:e2:o1:1
# text = That the new year is no better, and indeed worse, than the old one
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	no	no	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	than	than	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | That |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | That *not said here* |  |  |  |  | indeed *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That the new year offers the same hunger and cold that the old year brought

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1031-pg27200-part242:e2:o2:1
# text = That the new year offers the same hunger and cold that the old year brought
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	offers	offer	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl:unmarked	_	_
15	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **offer** | present | That | the same hunger |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent hunger=Theme |
| 2 | **bring** | participle | That *not said here* |  |  |  | year |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Too much snow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1031-pg27200-part242:e2:o3:1
# text = Too much snow
1	Too	too	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That the new year is no different from the year that has just gone by

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1031-pg27200-part242:e2:o4:1
# text = That the new year is no different from the year that has just gone by
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	det	_	_
7	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
12	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	just	just	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	acl:relcl	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | That |  |  |  | year | different *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **go by** | present · perfect | the year |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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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- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Story of the Year: sparrows, Winter and the two children of Spring](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1031-pg27200-part242/)