---
title: Mate, what was the princess sitting on? — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mate, what was the princess sitting on? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 1626 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 15: Gerda learns Kay is at a princess's palace and sneaks in, only to find the wrong boy» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the quest
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 15: Gerda lea…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mate, what was the princess sitting on?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mate, princess · **What happens:** be, sit on · **To what, where:** princess

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This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 1626 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 15: Gerda learns Kay is at a princess's palace and sneaks in, only to find the wrong boy» 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/1626-pg5615-part15/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1626-pg5615-part15:t8:1
# text = Mate, what was the princess sitting on?
1	Mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
7	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Mate and the princess | the princess |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sit on** | gerund | the princess *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A golden stool

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1626-pg5615-part15:t8:o1:1
# text = A golden stool
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	stool	stool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A great carved throne of gold with rubies all around the arms

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1626-pg5615-part15:t8:o2:1
# text = A great carved throne of gold with rubies all around the arms
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	carved	carve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	amod	_	_
4	throne	throne	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	rubies	ruby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
9	all	all	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	around	around	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carve** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A massive pearl

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1626-pg5615-part15:t8:o3:1
# text = A massive pearl
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	massive	massive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	pearl	pearl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A huge pearl the size of a hen's egg, set in silver

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1626-pg5615-part15:t8:o4:1
# text = A huge pearl the size of a hen's egg, set in silver
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	pearl	pearl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	hen	hen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set** | participle |  | a huge pearl *not said here* |  | silver |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in silver=Destination |

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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: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1626-pg5615-part15/t7/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1626-pg5615-part15/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 15: Gerda learns Kay is at a princess's palace and sneaks in, only to find the wrong boy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1626-pg5615-part15/)