---
title: What is the principal reason the youth declines to leave the house? — Norse Tales, The Master Thief, part 16… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is the principal reason the youth declines to leave the house? Exam question 2 of lesson 1519 «Norse Tales, The Master Thief, part 16: the youth steals a man's ox with a shoe and a trick» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and o
---

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# Exam question 2 · Norse Tales, The Master Thief, part 16: the youth steals a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What is the principal reason the youth declines to leave the house?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** youth · **What happens:** be, decline, not leave · **To what, where:** principal reason, house

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1519 «Norse Tales, The Master Thief, part 16: the youth steals a man's ox with a shoe and a trick» 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/1519-pg540-part16/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1519-pg540-part16:e2:1
# text = What is the principal reason the youth declines to leave the house?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|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	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	declines	decline	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **decline** | present | the youth | the principal reason *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **leave** | to-infinitive | the youth *not said here* | the house |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=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 -->
the storm is so violent that the road is flooded and no one could safely travel anywhere tonight

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1519-pg540-part16:e2:o1:1
# text = the storm is so violent that the road is flooded and no one could safely travel anywhere tonight
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	violent	violent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	flooded	flood	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
12	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	13	det	_	_
13	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	safely	safely	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	travel	travel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
17	anywhere	anywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	16	advmod	_	_
18	tonight	tonight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the storm |  |  |  |  | violent *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **flood** | present · passive |  | the road |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **travel** | could | no one |  |  |  | tonight | anywhere, safely *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the weather is too severe for travel, and the robbers have offered him a bed

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1519-pg540-part16:e2:o2:1
# text = the weather is too severe for travel, and the robbers have offered him a bed
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	weather	weather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	severe	severe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	travel	travel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	robbers	robber	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	offered	offer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	iobj	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the weather |  |  |  |  | for travel; severe *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **offer** | present · perfect · passive |  | the robbers | him *= he* |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the robbers have invited him in

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1519-pg540-part16:e2:o3:1
# text = the robbers have invited him in
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	robbers	robber	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	invited	invite	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invite** | present · perfect · passive |  | the robbers |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the weather is too severe for travel

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1519-pg540-part16:e2:o4:1
# text = the weather is too severe for travel
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	weather	weather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	severe	severe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	travel	travel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the weather |  |  |  |  | for travel; severe *property* | 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.

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- ← previous: [Norse Tales, The Master Thief, part 16…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1519-pg540-part16/e1/)
- next →: [Norse Tales, The Master Thief, part 16…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1519-pg540-part16/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Norse Tales, The Master Thief, part 16: the youth steals a man's ox with a shoe and a trick](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1519-pg540-part16/)