---
title: How long did the father remain absent from the household? — Japanese Fairy Tales, The Mirror of Ma… · tree and pragmatics
description: How long did the father remain absent from the household? Exam question 3 of lesson 1360 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Mirror of Matsuyama, part 20: the father leaves, returns with gifts, and the mother falls ill» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Japanese Fairy Tales, The Mirror of Matsuyama, part 20: th…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How long did the father remain absent from the household?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** father · **What happens:** do, remain

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1360 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Mirror of Matsuyama, part 20: the father leaves, returns with gifts, and the mother falls ill» 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/1360-pg4018-part20/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1360-pg4018-part20:e3:1
# text = How long did the father remain absent from the household?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	remain	remain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
7	absent	absent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **remain** | present | the father |  |  |  |  | absent *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About a year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1360-pg4018-part20:e3:o1:1
# text = About a year
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Most of the entire winter season

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1360-pg4018-part20:e3:o2:1
# text = Most of the entire winter season
1	Most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	entire	entire	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	season	season	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Several months

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1360-pg4018-part20:e3:o3:1
# text = Several months
1	Several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About a month

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1360-pg4018-part20:e3:o4:1
# text = About a month
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .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: [Japanese Fairy Tales, The Mirror of Ma…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1360-pg4018-part20/e2/)
- next →: [Japanese Fairy Tales, The Mirror of Ma…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1360-pg4018-part20/e4/)
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