---
title: Specify the task assigned to the youngest prince on the first mornin… — Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: Specify the task assigned to the youngest prince on the first morning of his servitude. Exam question 2 of lesson 1653 «Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part 1: two reckless princes promise their unborn brother to a witch to escape a storm» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the depe
---

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# Exam question 2 · Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part 1: two reckless prin…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Specify the task assigned to the youngest prince on the first morning of his servitude.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** specify, assign · **To what, where:** task, youngest prince

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1653 «Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part 1: two reckless princes promise their unborn brother to a witch to escape a storm» 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/1653-pg5615-part42/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1653-pg5615-part42:e2:1
# text = Specify the task assigned to the youngest prince on the first morning of his servitude.
1	Specify	specify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	assigned	assign	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	amod	_	_
8	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	12	amod	_	_
12	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	servitude	servitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **specify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the task |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent task=Theme |
| 2 | **assign** | participle |  | the task *not said here* | the youngest prince |  | morning |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to prince=Goal |

<!-- .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 -->
Splitting all the firewood in the yard into very small pieces before evening.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1653-pg5615-part42:e2:o1:1
# text = Splitting all the firewood in the yard into very small pieces before evening.
1	Splitting	split	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	4	det:predet	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	firewood	firewood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
8	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
12	before	before	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **split** | gerund |  | all firewood |  |  | evening | into small pieces *result*; in the yard | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent firewood=Patient into piece=Result |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gathering berries in the forest.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1653-pg5615-part42:e2:o2:1
# text = Gathering berries in the forest.
1	Gathering	gather	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	berries	berry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gather** | gerund |  | berries |  | the forest |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent berry=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Splitting firewood into small pieces.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1653-pg5615-part42:e2:o3:1
# text = Splitting firewood into small pieces.
1	Splitting	split	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	firewood	firewood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **split** | gerund |  | firewood |  |  |  | into small pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent firewood=Patient into piece=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Picking feathers from the dove and then splitting firewood into small pieces for the stove.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1653-pg5615-part42:e2:o4:1
# text = Picking feathers from the dove and then splitting firewood into small pieces for the stove.
1	Picking	pick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	dove	dove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
8	splitting	split	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	conj	_	_
9	firewood	firewood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	into	into	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	stove	stove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pick** | gerund |  | feathers |  | the dove |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent feather=Theme from dove=Source |
| 2 | **split** | gerund |  | firewood |  |  | then | into small pieces for the stove *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent firewood=Patient into piece=Result |

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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: [Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1653-pg5615-part42/e1/)
- next →: [Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1653-pg5615-part42/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part 1: two reckless princes promise their unborn brother to a witch to escape a storm](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1653-pg5615-part42/)