---
title: What was the principal reason the lion refused to eat the bear? — pg3282, The Lion and the Wild Cat, par… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal reason the lion refused to eat the bear? Exam question 3 of lesson 1246 «pg3282, The Lion and the Wild Cat, part 47: the lion steals the golden ball, and the old cat sees a copy of it» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the
---

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# Exam question 3 · pg3282, The Lion and the Wild Cat, part 47: the lion steal…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal reason the lion refused to eat the bear?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** lion · **What happens:** be, refuse, not eat · **To what, where:** principal reason, bear

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1246 «pg3282, The Lion and the Wild Cat, part 47: the lion steals the golden ball, and the old cat sees a copy of it» 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/1246-pg3282-part47/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1246-pg3282-part47:e3:1
# text = What was the principal reason the lion refused to eat the bear?
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	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	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 reason |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **refuse** | past | the lion | the principal reason *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **eat** | to-infinitive | the lion *not said here* | the bear |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bear=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
He feared the bear was alive

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1246-pg3282-part47:e3:o1:1
# text = He feared the bear was alive
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fear** | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | past | the bear |  |  |  |  | alive *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He thought the bear was poisoned

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1246-pg3282-part47:e3:o2:1
# text = He thought the bear was poisoned
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	poisoned	poison	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **poison** | past · passive |  | the bear |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was not hungry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1246-pg3282-part47:e3:o3:1
# text = He was not hungry
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|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	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | He |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He doubted that the bear was truly dead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1246-pg3282-part47:e3:o4:1
# text = He doubted that the bear was truly dead
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	doubted	doubt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	truly	truly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **doubt** | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | the bear |  |  |  |  | dead, truly *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: [pg3282, The Lion and the Wild Cat, par…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1246-pg3282-part47/e2/)
- next →: [pg3282, The Lion and the Wild Cat, par…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1246-pg3282-part47/e4/)
- ↑ back to [pg3282, The Lion and the Wild Cat, part 47: the lion steals the golden ball, and the old cat sees a copy of it](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1246-pg3282-part47/)