---
title: What reason did the old woman give for refusing to carry out the err… — Russian Fairy Tales, Martin the Peasan… · tree and pragmatics
description: What reason did the old woman give for refusing to carry out the errand? Exam question 3 of lesson 1718 «Russian Fairy Tales, Martin the Peasant, part 42: Martin's mother goes to the King to woo his daughter» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of th
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1718-pg640-part42/e3/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Russian Fairy Tales, Martin the Peasan…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1718-pg640-part42/) / e3

# Exam question 3 · Russian Fairy Tales, Martin the Peasant, part 42: Martin's…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What reason did the old woman give for refusing to carry out the errand?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** old woman · **What happens:** give, refuse, not carry out · **To what, where:** errand

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1718 «Russian Fairy Tales, Martin the Peasant, part 42: Martin's mother goes to the King to woo his daughter» 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/1718-pg640-part42/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1718-pg640-part42:e3:1
# text = What reason did the old woman give for refusing to carry out the errand?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obl	_	_
2	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	refusing	refuse	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	out	out	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	errand	errand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past · do-support | the old woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **refuse** | gerund | the old woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **carry out** | to-infinitive | the old woman *not said here* | the errand |  |  |  |  | vn act-114 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent errand=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 -->
that the trip would cost them money

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1718-pg640-part42:e3:o1:1
# text = that the trip would cost them money
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	trip	trip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	cost	cost	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cost** | would | the trip | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Theme they=Beneficiary money=Value |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it was too far

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1718-pg640-part42:e3:o2:1
# text = it was too far
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | it |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
that the venture endangered their lives

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1718-pg640-part42:e3:o3:1
# text = that the venture endangered their lives
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	venture	venture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	endangered	endanger	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **endanger** | past | the venture | their lives |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
that the King had forbidden visits

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1718-pg640-part42:e3:o4:1
# text = that the King had forbidden visits
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	forbidden	forbid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	amod	_	_
6	visits	visit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forbid** | past · perfect | the King |  |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Causer |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Russian Fairy Tales, Martin the Peasan…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1718-pg640-part42/e2/)
- next →: [Russian Fairy Tales, Martin the Peasan…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1718-pg640-part42/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Russian Fairy Tales, Martin the Peasant, part 42: Martin's mother goes to the King to woo his daughter](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1718-pg640-part42/)