---
title: Mate, how come nobody could see the princess till she was fourteen? — Fairy Tales, The Princess in the Chest… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mate, how come nobody could see the princess till she was fourteen? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 1621 «Fairy Tales, The Princess in the Chest, part 10: the king breaks his word, the princess dies, and the sentinels vanish one by one» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and
---

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# Test 2 · ★ · Fairy Tales, The Princess in the Chest, part 10: the king…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mate, how come nobody could see the princess till she was fourteen?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** nobody, princess · **What happens:** see, be · **To what, where:** Mate, fourteen

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 1621 «Fairy Tales, The Princess in the Chest, part 10: the king breaks his word, the princess dies, and the sentinels vanish one by one» of the books course of Mova's primary school. 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/1621-pg5615-part10/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1621-pg5615-part10:t2:1
# text = Mate, how come nobody could see the princess till she was fourteen?
1	Mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
4	come	come	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	obj	_	_
5	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	fourteen	fourteen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | could | nobody | Mate |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | princess | fourteen |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 king just wanted to keep her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1621-pg5615-part10:t2:o1:1
# text = The king just wanted to keep her
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | the king |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **keep** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the king *not said here* | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wise woman said it would bring misery

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1621-pg5615-part10:t2:o2:1
# text = The wise woman said it would bring misery
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
8	misery	misery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the wise woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **bring** | would | it | misery |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent misery=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wise woman said it would bring misery, and the king had sworn to obey her word for ever

<!-- fold The tree, 19 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1621-pg5615-part10:t2:o3:1
# text = The wise woman said it would bring misery, and the king had sworn to obey her word for ever
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
8	misery	misery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	sworn	swear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	obey	obey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	16	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the wise woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **bring** | would | it | misery |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent misery=Theme |
| 3 | **swear** | past · perfect | the king |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **obey** | to-infinitive | the king *not said here* | woman's word |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 5 | **word** |  | woman |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wise woman said it would bring misery to the whole household if anyone saw her

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1621-pg5615-part10:t2:o4:1
# text = The wise woman said it would bring misery to the whole household if anyone saw her
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
8	misery	misery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	15	nsubj	_	_
15	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
16	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the wise woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **bring** | would | it | misery |  | the whole household |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent misery=Theme to household=Destination |
| 3 | **see** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | anyone | woman |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus |

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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: [Fairy Tales, The Princess in the Chest…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1621-pg5615-part10/t1/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales, The Princess in the Chest…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1621-pg5615-part10/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Tales, The Princess in the Chest, part 10: the king breaks his word, the princess dies, and the sentinels vanish one by one](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1621-pg5615-part10/)