---
title: What is the principal function of the old witch's ointment in the na… — Yule-Tide Stories, The Prince and the… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is the principal function of the old witch's ointment in the narrative? Exam question 4 of lesson 1155 «Yule-Tide Stories, The Prince and the Dove-Bride: the false bride is unmasked and both wicked women are sent away» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and p
---

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# Exam question 4 · Yule-Tide Stories, The Prince and the Dove-Bride: the fals…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What is the principal function of the old witch's ointment in the narrative?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** principal function · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 1155 «Yule-Tide Stories, The Prince and the Dove-Bride: the false bride is unmasked and both wicked women are sent away» 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/1155-pg3027-part21/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1155-pg3027-part21:e4:1
# text = What is the principal function of the old witch's ointment in the narrative?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	function	function	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	ointment	ointment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	narrative	narrative	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the principal function of the old witch's ointment in the narrative |  |  |  |  |  | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It tests whether the rightful bride truly perished in the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1155-pg3027-part21:e4:o1:1
# text = It tests whether the rightful bride truly perished in the sea
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tests	test	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	rightful	rightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	bride	bride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	truly	truly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	perished	perish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **test** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **perish** | participle · passive |  | the rightful bride |  | the sea |  | truly *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It disguises the stepmother's daughter as the real princess.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1155-pg3027-part21:e4:o2:1
# text = It disguises the stepmother's daughter as the real princess.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	disguises	disguise	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **disguise** | present | It |  | the stepmother's daughter |  |  | as the real princess | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme daughter=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It heals her tongue.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1155-pg3027-part21:e4:o3:1
# text = It heals her tongue.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	heals	heal	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **heal** | present | It | her tongue |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent tongue=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It frees the sea girl from the doves' spell completely.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1155-pg3027-part21:e4:o4:1
# text = It frees the sea girl from the doves' spell completely.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	frees	free	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	doves	dove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	'	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	spell	spell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
11	completely	completely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **free** | present | It | the sea girl |  | the doves's spell |  | completely *property* | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer girl=Source |
| 2 | **spell** |  | the doves |  |  |  |  |  | nom spell «state transitive»: poss=agent |

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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: [Yule-Tide Stories, The Prince and the…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1155-pg3027-part21/e3/)
- next →: [Lang Fairy Book, The Clever Cat, part…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1156-pg3027-part22/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Yule-Tide Stories, The Prince and the Dove-Bride: the false bride is unmasked and both wicked women are sent away](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1155-pg3027-part21/)