---
title: Under what circumstances was the son to be apprenticed to a trade? — The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Under what circumstances was the son to be apprenticed to a trade? Exam question 4 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 pragma
---

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# Exam question 4 · The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad, part 1: a clever boy…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Under what circumstances was the son to be apprenticed to a trade?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** circumstances · **What happens:** be, apprentice · **To what, where:** son

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 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/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1276-pg3454-part1:e4:1
# text = Under what circumstances was the son to be apprenticed to a trade?
1	Under	under	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
3	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	acl:relcl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	apprenticed	apprentice	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | circumstances | the son |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **apprentice** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  | to a trade | vn orphan-29.7 «NP V NP» |

<!-- .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 -->
As soon as he was old enough, in a trade of his own choosing

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1276-pg3454-part1:e4:o1:1
# text = As soon as he was old enough, in a trade of his own choosing
1	As	as	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
3	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	nmod	_	_
15	choosing	choose	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | he |  |  |  |  | enough, old, soon *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **choose** | gerund | a trade of his own *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
After school, in a trade his mother chose

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1276-pg3454-part1:e4:o2:1
# text = After school, in a trade his mother chose
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | past | his mother |  |  |  | after school and a trade |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Never, he stayed home

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1276-pg3454-part1:e4:o3:1
# text = Never, he stayed home
1	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stayed	stay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	home	home	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **stay** | past | he |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At age ten, as a smith

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1276-pg3454-part1:e4:o4:1
# text = At age ten, as a smith
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	as	as	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	smith	smith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1276-pg3454-part1/e3/)
- next →: [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad, pa…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1277-pg3454-part2/t1/)
- ↑ 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/)