---
title: What command did the witch issue to the palace servants? — Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants… · tree and pragmatics
description: What command did the witch issue to the palace servants? Exam question 2 of lesson 1713 «Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants, part 37: three sons guard the magic fruit» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's
---

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# Exam question 2 · Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants, part 37: three son…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What command did the witch issue to the palace servants?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** command · **What happens:** do · **To what, where:** witch issue

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1713 «Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants, part 37: three sons guard the magic fruit» 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/1713-pg640-part37/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1713-pg640-part37:e2:1
# text = What command did the witch issue to the palace servants?
1	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	issue	issue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | what command | the witch issue |  |  |  | to the palace servants | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent issue=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 sharpening of all the knives in the kitchen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1713-pg640-part37:e2:o1:1
# text = the sharpening of all the knives in the kitchen
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sharpening	sharpening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	knives	knife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the sharpening of knives

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1713-pg640-part37:e2:o2:1
# text = the sharpening of knives
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sharpening	sharpening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	knives	knife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the washing of plates

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1713-pg640-part37:e2:o3:1
# text = the washing of plates
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	washing	washing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	plates	plate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wash** |  |  | plates |  |  |  |  | nom washing «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the careful sharpening of every single knife in the house

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1713-pg640-part37:e2:o4:1
# text = the careful sharpening of every single knife in the house
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	sharpening	sharpening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
6	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

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

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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 Book, The Witch and Her Servants…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1713-pg640-part37/e1/)
- next →: [Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1713-pg640-part37/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants, part 37: three sons guard the magic fruit](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1713-pg640-part37/)