---
title: What was the Captain's stated preference regarding his own death? — Project Gutenberg pg503, Princess Mira… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the Captain's stated preference regarding his own death? Exam question 3 of lesson 1464 «Project Gutenberg pg503, Princess Miranda, part 51: the King orders Miranda killed, and her faithful animals die for her» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragm
---

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# Exam question 3 · Project Gutenberg pg503, Princess Miranda, part 51: the Ki…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the Captain's stated preference regarding his own death?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** stated preference, Captain, his · **What happens:** be, state, regard, prefer, die

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1464 «Project Gutenberg pg503, Princess Miranda, part 51: the King orders Miranda killed, and her faithful animals die for her» 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/1464-pg503-part51/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1464-pg503-part51:e3:1
# text = What was the Captain's stated preference regarding his own death?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	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	4	det	_	_
4	Captain	Captain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	stated	state	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	preference	preference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
8	regarding	regard	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the Captain's stated preference regard his own death |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **state** *speech: other* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **regard** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **prefer** |  | the Captain |  |  |  |  | regard his own death | nom preference «feeling transitive»: poss=agent regard=obl |
| 5 | **die** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He would rather die himself than harm her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1464-pg503-part51:e3:o1:1
# text = He would rather die himself than harm her
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obj	_	_
6	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	harm	harm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
8	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | would | He | himself *= he* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **harm** | infinitive | He *not said here* | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus she=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He would rather die himself than harm her, and he said so

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1464-pg503-part51:e3:o2:1
# text = He would rather die himself than harm her, and he said so
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obj	_	_
6	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	harm	harm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
8	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | would | He | himself *= he* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **harm** | infinitive | He *not said here* | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus she=Experiencer |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He would prefer to become a shepherd

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1464-pg503-part51:e3:o3:1
# text = He would prefer to become a shepherd
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	prefer	prefer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prefer** | would | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **become** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | He *not said here* | a shepherd |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He would rather flee the kingdom than serve

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1464-pg503-part51:e3:o4:1
# text = He would rather flee the kingdom than serve
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	flee	flee	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	serve	serve	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flee** | would | He | the kingdom |  |  |  | than serve | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme kingdom=Initial\_Location |

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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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