---
title: What was the principal cause of the Prince's misfortune upon the sea? — d'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales, The Invisible… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal cause of the Prince's misfortune upon the sea? Exam question 4 of lesson 1697 «d'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales, The Invisible Prince, part 21: the Prince is wrecked and finds a land of doomed lovers» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics 
---

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# Exam question 4 · d'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales, The Invisible Prince, part 21: the…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal cause of the Prince's misfortune upon the sea?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** principal cause

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 1697 «d'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales, The Invisible Prince, part 21: the Prince is wrecked and finds a land of doomed lovers» 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/1697-pg640-part21/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1697-pg640-part21:e4:1
# text = What was the principal cause of the Prince's misfortune upon the sea?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|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	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
11	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the principal cause |  |  |  | of the Prince's misfortune upon the sea | 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 -->
Rough seas that swept his men overboard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1697-pg640-part21:e4:o1:1
# text = Rough seas that swept his men overboard
1	Rough	rough	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	seas	sea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	swept	sweep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	overboard	overboard	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sweep** | past | seas | his men |  |  |  | overboard, rough *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location man=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A violent storm which broke his vessel on rocks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1697-pg640-part21:e4:o2:1
# text = A violent storm which broke his vessel on rocks
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	violent	violent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	vessel	vessel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | past | a violent storm | storm's vessel |  | rocks |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer vessel=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A violent storm and huge waves which smashed his ship against hidden rocks in the night

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1697-pg640-part21:e4:o3:1
# text = A violent storm and huge waves which smashed his ship against hidden rocks in the night
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	violent	violent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	smashed	smash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	against	against	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	hidden	hidden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smash** | past | a violent storm and huge waves | his ship |  | hidden rocks | night |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent ship=Theme against rock=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A hidden reef that tore his hull apart

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1697-pg640-part21:e4:o4:1
# text = A hidden reef that tore his hull apart
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	hidden	hidden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	reef	reef	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	tore	tore	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	hull	hull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	apart	apart	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tore** | past | a hidden reef | his hull |  |  |  | apart *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: [d'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales, The Invisible…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1697-pg640-part21/e3/)
- next →: [d'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales, The Invisible…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1698-pg640-part22/t1/)
- ↑ back to [d'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales, The Invisible Prince, part 21: the Prince is wrecked and finds a land of doomed lovers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1697-pg640-part21/)