---
title: What was the principal reason the skipper desired the mill? — Popular Tales from the Norse, The Mill… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal reason the skipper desired the mill? Exam question 2 of lesson 1446 «Popular Tales from the Norse, The Mill, part 33: a skipper buys the magic mill for salt» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each optio
---

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# Exam question 2 · Popular Tales from the Norse, The Mill, part 33: a skipper…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal reason the skipper desired the mill?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** skipper · **What happens:** be, desire · **To what, where:** principal reason, mill

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 1446 «Popular Tales from the Norse, The Mill, part 33: a skipper buys the magic mill for salt» 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/1446-pg503-part33/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1446-pg503-part33:e2:1
# text = What was the principal reason the skipper desired the mill?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|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	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	skipper	skipper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	desired	desire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **desire** | past | the skipper | the mill |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot mill=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To produce salt without perilous voyages

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1446-pg503-part33:e2:o1:1
# text = To produce salt without perilous voyages
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	produce	produce	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	without	without	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	perilous	perilous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	voyages	voyage	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **produce** | to-infinitive |  | salt |  |  |  | without perilous voyages | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salt=Result |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To produce gold without dangerous trips

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1446-pg503-part33:e2:o2:1
# text = To produce gold without dangerous trips
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	produce	produce	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	without	without	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	trips	trip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **produce** | to-infinitive |  | gold |  |  |  | without dangerous trips | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gold=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To sell salt without any long journeys

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1446-pg503-part33:e2:o3:1
# text = To sell salt without any long journeys
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	sell	sell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	without	without	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	journeys	journey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sell** | to-infinitive |  | salt |  |  |  | without any long journeys | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salt=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To produce salt at home without any perilous voyages across the wild sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1446-pg503-part33:e2:o4:1
# text = To produce salt at home without any perilous voyages across the wild sea
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	produce	produce	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	without	without	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
8	perilous	perilous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	voyages	voyage	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
10	across	across	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **produce** | to-infinitive |  | salt |  | home |  | without any perilous voyages; across the wild sea | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salt=Result |

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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: [Popular Tales from the Norse, The Mill…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1446-pg503-part33/e1/)
- next →: [Popular Tales from the Norse, The Mill…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1446-pg503-part33/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Popular Tales from the Norse, The Mill, part 33: a skipper buys the magic mill for salt](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1446-pg503-part33/)