---
title: Why was the rich brother unable to terminate the mill's operation? — Popular Tales from the Norse, The Mill… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why was the rich brother unable to terminate the mill's operation? Exam question 3 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 eac
---

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# Exam question 3 · Popular Tales from the Norse, The Mill, part 33: a skipper…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why was the rich brother unable to terminate the mill's operation?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** rich brother, mill · **What happens:** be, terminate, operate · **To what, where:** operation

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This is exam question 3 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/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1446-pg503-part33:e3:1
# text = Why was the rich brother unable to terminate the mill's operation?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
6	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	terminate	terminate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	operation	operation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the rich brother |  |  |  |  | why *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **terminate** | to-infinitive | the rich brother *not said here* | the mill's operation |  |  |  |  | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent operation=Theme |
| 3 | **operate** |  | the mill |  |  |  |  |  | nom operation «state transitive»: poss=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 -->
He had never learned the secret phrase

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1446-pg503-part33:e3:o1:1
# text = He had never learned the secret phrase
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	learned	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	phrase	phrase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **learn** | past · perfect | He | the secret phrase |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent phrase=Topic |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had not been instructed in the method

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1446-pg503-part33:e3:o2:1
# text = He had not been instructed in the method
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	instructed	instruct	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	method	method	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **instruct** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive |  | He |  | the method |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was never told the proper method

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1446-pg503-part33:e3:o3:1
# text = He was never told the proper method
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	method	method	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	iobj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | He | the proper method |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient method=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He forgot the words

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1446-pg503-part33:e3:o4:1
# text = He forgot the words
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	forgot	forget	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forget** | past | He | the words |  |  |  |  | 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: [Popular Tales from the Norse, The Mill…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1446-pg503-part33/e2/)
- next →: [Popular Tales from the Norse, The Mill…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1446-pg503-part33/e4/)
- ↑ 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/)