---
title: To what social origin does the wise old man attribute the failure of… — Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: To what social origin does the wise old man attribute the failure of the royal gardeners? Exam question 1 of lesson 1414 «Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part 1: the gardener's son cures the old King and asks for a ring» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pr
---

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# Exam question 1 · Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part 1: the gardener's s…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To what social origin does the wise old man attribute the failure of the royal gardeners?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** wise old man, royal gardeners · **What happens:** attribute, fail · **To what, where:** failure

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 1414 «Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part 1: the gardener's son cures the old King and asks for a ring» 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/1414-pg503-part1/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1414-pg503-part1:e1:1
# text = To what social origin does the wise old man attribute the failure of the royal gardeners?
1	To	to	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	obl	_	_
3	social	social	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	origin	origin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
5	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	attribute	attribute	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	failure	failure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	royal	royal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	gardeners	gardener	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **attribute** | present · do-support | the wise old man | the failure of the royal gardeners |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **fail** |  | the royal gardeners |  |  |  |  |  | nom failure «act 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 -->
Their fathers were cobblers and carpenters, and their masters were foreign merchants from the south

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1414-pg503-part1:e1:o1:1
# text = Their fathers were cobblers and carpenters, and their masters were foreign merchants from the south
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	fathers	father	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	cobblers	cobbler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	carpenters	carpenter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	masters	master	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	foreign	foreign	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	merchants	merchant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
14	from	from	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	south	south	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Their fathers | cobblers and carpenters and foreign merchants |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | fathers's masters | foreign merchants |  | the south |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their fathers were cobblers and carpenters

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1414-pg503-part1:e1:o2:1
# text = Their fathers were cobblers and carpenters
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	fathers	father	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	cobblers	cobbler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	carpenters	carpenter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Their fathers | cobblers and carpenters |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their fathers were cobblers and carpenters, not gardeners, so they knew nothing of soil

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1414-pg503-part1:e1:o3:1
# text = Their fathers were cobblers and carpenters, not gardeners, so they knew nothing of soil
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	fathers	father	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	cobblers	cobbler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	carpenters	carpenter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	gardeners	gardener	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
14	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	13	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Their fathers | cobblers and carpenters and gardeners |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | past | fathers *= father* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their grandfathers were shepherds and smiths

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1414-pg503-part1:e1:o4:1
# text = Their grandfathers were shepherds and smiths
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	grandfathers	grandfather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	shepherds	shepherd	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	smiths	smith	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Their grandfathers | shepherds and smiths |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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: [Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1414-pg503-part1/t12/)
- next →: [Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1414-pg503-part1/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part 1: the gardener's son cures the old King and asks for a ring](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1414-pg503-part1/)