---
title: Why was the serpent unable to pursue the children across the water? — Russian Folk-Tales, Tsar Novishny, par… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why was the serpent unable to pursue the children across the water? Exam question 3 of lesson 1103 «Russian Folk-Tales, Tsar Novishny, part 9: the children ride a horse, a humble-bee and a bullock away from the serpent, and the bullock gives his life to save them» of the books course of Mova's prima
---

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# Exam question 3 · Russian Folk-Tales, Tsar Novishny, part 9: the children ri…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why was the serpent unable to pursue the children across the water?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** serpent · **What happens:** be, pursue · **To what, where:** children, water

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1103 «Russian Folk-Tales, Tsar Novishny, part 9: the children ride a horse, a humble-bee and a bullock away from the serpent, and the bullock gives his life to save them» 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/1103-pg29672-part9/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1103-pg29672-part9:e3:1
# text = Why was the serpent unable to pursue the children across the water?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	pursue	pursue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	across	across	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the serpent |  |  |  |  | why *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **pursue** | to-infinitive | the serpent *not said here* | the children |  | the water |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent child=Theme across water=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had no path to follow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1103-pg29672-part9:e3:o1:1
# text = He had no path to follow
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | He | no path |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent path=Patient |
| 2 | **follow** | to-infinitive | He *not said here* | no path *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He lacked any ground upon which to run and the water stopped him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1103-pg29672-part9:e3:o2:1
# text = He lacked any ground upon which to run and the water stopped him
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lacked	lack	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	2	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lack** | past | He | any ground |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **run** | to-infinitive | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **stop** | past | the water | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality he=Eventuality |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He lacked any ground upon which to run

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1103-pg29672-part9:e3:o3:1
# text = He lacked any ground upon which to run
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lacked	lack	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	2	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lack** | past | He | any ground |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **run** | to-infinitive | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The water was too deep for him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1103-pg29672-part9:e3:o4:1
# text = The water was too deep for him
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the water |  |  |  |  | for him *= he*; deep *property* | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Russian Folk-Tales, Tsar Novishny, par…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1103-pg29672-part9/e2/)
- next →: [Russian Folk-Tales, Tsar Novishny, par…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1103-pg29672-part9/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Russian Folk-Tales, Tsar Novishny, part 9: the children ride a horse, a humble-bee and a bullock away from the serpent, and the bullock gives his life to save them](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1103-pg29672-part9/)