---
title: What circumstance occasioned the princess to release the handkerchie… — Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad: th… · tree and pragmatics
description: What circumstance occasioned the princess to release the handkerchief and precipitate the death of her husband? Exam question 4 of lesson 1279 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad: the Shifty Lad wins the princess, then dies on the bridge of Dublin» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1279-pg3454-part4/e4/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad: th…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1279-pg3454-part4/) / e4

# Exam question 4 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad: the Shifty Lad wins th…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What circumstance occasioned the princess to release the handkerchief and precipitate the death of her husband?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** circumstance, husband · **What happens:** occasion, release, precipitate, die · **To what, where:** princess, handkerchief, death

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 1279 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad: the Shifty Lad wins the princess, then dies on the bridge of Dublin» 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/1279-pg3454-part4/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1279-pg3454-part4:e4:1
# text = What circumstance occasioned the princess to release the handkerchief and precipitate the death of her husband?
1	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	circumstance	circumstance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	occasioned	occasion	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	release	release	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	handkerchief	handkerchief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	precipitate	precipitate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **occasion** | past | what circumstance | the princess |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **release** | to-infinitive | what circumstance *not said here* | the handkerchief |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer handkerchief=Source |
| 3 | **precipitate** | infinitive | what circumstance *not said here* | the death of circumstance's husband |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **die** |  | circumstance's husband |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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 -->
A shout that the king had fallen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1279-pg3454-part4:e4:o1:1
# text = A shout that the king had fallen
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	shout	shout	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	appos	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | past · perfect | the king |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A fire alarm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1279-pg3454-part4:e4:o2:1
# text = A fire alarm
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	alarm	alarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cry that the palace was burning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1279-pg3454-part4:e4:o3:1
# text = A cry that the palace was burning
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cry	cry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burn** | past · progressive | the palace | a cry *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent cry=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A sudden cry of alarm nearby

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1279-pg3454-part4:e4:o4:1
# text = A sudden cry of alarm nearby
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	sudden	sudden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	cry	cry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	alarm	alarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	nearby	nearby	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cry** |  | alarm |  |  |  |  |  | nom cry «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad: th…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1279-pg3454-part4/e3/)
- next →: [Fairy Book, The Old Woman and the Prin…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1280-pg3454-part5/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad: the Shifty Lad wins the princess, then dies on the bridge of Dublin](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1279-pg3454-part4/)