---
title: In what manner did the Princess endeavour to dissuade her father fro… — Fairy Tales, Donkeyskin, part 1: a dyi… · tree and pragmatics
description: In what manner did the Princess endeavour to dissuade her father from his unnatural proposal? Exam question 2 of lesson 1091 «Fairy Tales, Donkeyskin, part 1: a dying Queen makes the King swear, the King goes mad, and the Princess flees to her godmother» of the books course of Mova's primary school,
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1091-pg29021-part16/e2/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Fairy Tales, Donkeyskin, part 1: a dyi…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1091-pg29021-part16/) / e2

# Exam question 2 · Fairy Tales, Donkeyskin, part 1: a dying Queen makes the K…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In what manner did the Princess endeavour to dissuade her father from his unnatural proposal?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** his · **What happens:** do, dissuade, propose · **To what, where:** Princess endeavour, manner, father, unnatural proposal

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1091 «Fairy Tales, Donkeyskin, part 1: a dying Queen makes the King swear, the King goes mad, and the Princess flees to her godmother» 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/1091-pg29021-part16/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1091-pg29021-part16:e2:1
# text = In what manner did the Princess endeavour to dissuade her father from his unnatural proposal?
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	3	det	_	_
3	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	endeavour	endeavour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	dissuade	dissuade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl	_	_
10	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
14	unnatural	unnatural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	proposal	proposal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  | the Princess endeavour |  | what manner |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent endeavour=Eventuality |
| 2 | **dissuade** | to-infinitive |  | the Princess endeavour *not said here* | her father | his unnatural proposal |  |  | vn discourage-64.5 «NP V NP PP.eventuality»: agent=Causer father=Beneficiary from proposal=Eventuality |
| 3 | **propose** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom proposal «communication intransitive»: 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by kneeling before him in the great hall and begging with bitter tears and sobs

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1091-pg29021-part16:e2:o1:1
# text = by kneeling before him in the great hall and begging with bitter tears and sobs
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	kneeling	kneel	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	before	before	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	hall	hall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	begging	beg	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	bitter	bitter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	sobs	sob	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kneel** | gerund |  |  |  | the great hall | before him *= he* |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before he=Location |
| 2 | **beg** *speech: request* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with bitter tears and sobs | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by refusing to eat for many days

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1091-pg29021-part16:e2:o2:1
# text = by refusing to eat for many days
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	refusing	refuse	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **refuse** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **eat** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  | day |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by prostrating herself before him and pleading

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1091-pg29021-part16:e2:o3:1
# text = by prostrating herself before him and pleading
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	prostrating	prostrate	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obj	_	_
4	before	before	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	pleading	plead	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prostrate** | gerund |  | herself *= she* |  |  | before him *= he* |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **plead** *speech: request* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by arguing with him through the Council

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1091-pg29021-part16:e2:o4:1
# text = by arguing with him through the Council
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	arguing	argue	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Council	Council	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **argue** *speech: disagree* | gerund |  |  |  | the Council |  | with him *= he* | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with he=Co-Agent |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Fairy Tales, Donkeyskin, part 1: a dyi…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1091-pg29021-part16/e1/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales, Donkeyskin, part 1: a dyi…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1091-pg29021-part16/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Tales, Donkeyskin, part 1: a dying Queen makes the King swear, the King goes mad, and the Princess flees to her godmother](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1091-pg29021-part16/)