---
title: What was the principal characteristic of the cottage the duckling ev… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckl… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal characteristic of the cottage the duckling eventually approached? Exam question 4 of lesson 1148 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckling, part 14: the duckling is bullied, flees to the moor, survives the hunt and reaches a cottage» of the books course of Mova's primary scho
---

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# Exam question 4 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckling, part 14: the du…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal characteristic of the cottage the duckling eventually approached?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 1148 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckling, part 14: the duckling is bullied, flees to the moor, survives the hunt and reaches a cottage» 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/1148-pg3027-part14/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1148-pg3027-part14:e4:1
# text = What was the principal characteristic of the cottage the duckling eventually approached?
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	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	characteristic	characteristic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	cottage	cottage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	duckling	duckling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
11	eventually	eventually	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	approached	approach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the principal characteristic |  |  |  | of the cottage | tree rules |
| 2 | **approach** | participle |  | the duckling *not said here* |  |  |  | eventually *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
it was dilapidated

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1148-pg3027-part14:e4:o1:1
# text = it was dilapidated
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	dilapidated	dilapidate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dilapidate** | past · passive |  | it |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it was rather lovely

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1148-pg3027-part14:e4:o2:1
# text = it was rather lovely
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	lovely	lovely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | lovely *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it was dilapidated with a broken roof and door

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1148-pg3027-part14:e4:o3:1
# text = it was dilapidated with a broken roof and door
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	dilapidated	dilapidate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dilapidate** | past · passive |  | it |  |  |  | with a broken roof and door | tree rules |
| 2 | **break** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it was badly dilapidated and falling apart

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1148-pg3027-part14:e4:o4:1
# text = it was badly dilapidated and falling apart
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
4	dilapidated	dilapidate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
7	apart	apart	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dilapidate** | past · passive |  | it |  |  |  | badly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fall apart** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | apart *property* | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

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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 Ugly Duckl…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1148-pg3027-part14/e3/)
- next →: [Crimson Fairy Book, The Two Caskets, p…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1150-pg3027-part16/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckling, part 14: the duckling is bullied, flees to the moor, survives the hunt and reaches a cottage](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1148-pg3027-part14/)