---
title: What is the principal cause of Denis's withdrawal from Tephany? — Breton Tales, Tephany, part 53: a fair… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is the principal cause of Denis's withdrawal from Tephany? Exam question 3 of lesson 1328 «Breton Tales, Tephany, part 53: a fairy gives Tephany three magic gifts, and she grows vain and sharp» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question
---

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# Exam question 3 · Breton Tales, Tephany, part 53: a fairy gives Tephany thre…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What is the principal cause of Denis's withdrawal from Tephany?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Denis · **What happens:** be, withdraw · **To what, where:** principal cause, Tephany

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 1328 «Breton Tales, Tephany, part 53: a fairy gives Tephany three magic gifts, and she grows vain and sharp» 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/1328-pg3454-part53/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1328-pg3454-part53:e3:1
# text = What is the principal cause of Denis's withdrawal from Tephany?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|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	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	Denis	Denis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	withdrawal	withdrawal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Tephany	Tephany	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the principal cause |  |  |  | of Denis's withdrawal from Tephany | tree rules |
| 2 | **withdraw** |  | Denis |  |  | Tephany |  |  | nom withdrawal «communication transitive»: poss=agent from=place |

<!-- .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 -->
His lack of love for her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1328-pg3454-part53:e3:o1:1
# text = His lack of love for her
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	lack	lack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	love	love	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lack** |  | His *= he* | love |  |  |  | for her *= she* | nom lack «state transitive»: poss=agent of=patient for=obl |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His neglect of her listening

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1328-pg3454-part53:e3:o2:1
# text = His neglect of her listening
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	neglect	neglect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	listening	listening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **neglect** |  | His *= he* | her listening |  |  |  |  | nom neglect «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |
| 2 | **listen** |  | her *= she* |  |  |  |  |  | nom listening «act transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His neglect of her listening, since he talks about himself all day long

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1328-pg3454-part53:e3:o3:1
# text = His neglect of her listening, since he talks about himself all day long
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	neglect	neglect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:outer	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	listening	listening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	talks	talk	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	about	about	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	9	obl	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	13	det	_	_
13	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl:unmarked	_	_
14	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | present | His neglect of neglect's listening |  |  |  |  | about himself *= he*; long *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about himself=Topic |
| 2 | **neglect** |  | His *= he* | neglect's listening |  |  |  |  | nom neglect «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |
| 3 | **listen** |  | neglect |  |  |  |  |  | nom listening «act transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His neglect of her listening and his constant boasting about himself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1328-pg3454-part53:e3:o4:1
# text = His neglect of her listening and his constant boasting about himself
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	neglect	neglect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	listening	listening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	boasting	boasting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
10	about	about	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **neglect** |  | His *= he* | her listening |  |  |  |  | nom neglect «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |
| 2 | **listen** |  | her *= she* |  |  |  |  |  | nom listening «act 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: [Breton Tales, Tephany, part 53: a fair…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1328-pg3454-part53/e2/)
- next →: [Breton Tales, Tephany, part 53: a fair…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1328-pg3454-part53/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Breton Tales, Tephany, part 53: a fairy gives Tephany three magic gifts, and she grows vain and sharp](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1328-pg3454-part53/)