---
title: What was the principal reason the widow saved her money? — The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad,… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal reason the widow saved her money? Exam question 2 of lesson 1276 «The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad, part 1: a clever boy's mother saves up to send him to school and then to a trade» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of th
---

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# Exam question 2 · The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad, part 1: a clever boy…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal reason the widow saved her money?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** widow · **What happens:** be, save · **To what, where:** principal reason, money

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1276 «The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad, part 1: a clever boy's mother saves up to send him to school and then to a trade» 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/1276-pg3454-part1/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1276-pg3454-part1:e2:1
# text = What was the principal reason the widow saved her money?
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	widow	widow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	saved	save	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	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 | **save** | past | the widow | widow's money |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To buy a new cow for the farm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1276-pg3454-part1:e2:o1:1
# text = To buy a new cow for the farm
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	buy	buy	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | to-infinitive |  | a new cow |  |  |  | for the farm | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent cow=Theme for farm=Beneficiary |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To send her clever son to a fine school far away across the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1276-pg3454-part1:e2:o2:1
# text = To send her clever son to a fine school far away across the sea
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	send	send	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
10	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	11	advmod	_	_
11	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
12	across	across	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | to-infinitive |  | her clever son |  | the sea |  | to a fine school; away *property* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent son=Theme to school=Destination |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To send her clever son to school

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1276-pg3454-part1:e2:o3:1
# text = To send her clever son to school
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	send	send	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | to-infinitive |  | her clever son |  | school |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent son=Theme to school=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To buy a grand house in the city so that her son could become a rich lawyer one day

<!-- fold The tree, 19 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1276-pg3454-part1:e2:o4:1
# text = To buy a grand house in the city so that her son could become a rich lawyer one day
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	buy	buy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	grand	grand	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	14	mark	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	fixed	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	lawyer	lawyer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	xcomp	_	_
18	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nummod	_	_
19	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | to-infinitive | her son *not said here* | a grand house |  | the city |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Theme |
| 2 | **become** | could | her son | a rich lawyer |  |  | day |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: 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: [The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad,…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1276-pg3454-part1/e1/)
- next →: [The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad,…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1276-pg3454-part1/e3/)
- ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad, part 1: a clever boy's mother saves up to send him to school and then to a trade](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1276-pg3454-part1/)