---
title: What was the cause of the household's misfortune, as stated by the w… — Roumanian Fairy Tales, Stan Bolovan, p… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the cause of the household's misfortune, as stated by the wife? Exam question 1 of lesson 1769 «Roumanian Fairy Tales, Stan Bolovan, part 20: Stan wants children, gets a hundred, and meets a dragon» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the
---

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# Exam question 1 · Roumanian Fairy Tales, Stan Bolovan, part 20: Stan wants c…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the cause of the household's misfortune, as stated by the wife?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be, state · **To what, where:** cause

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 1769 «Roumanian Fairy Tales, Stan Bolovan, part 20: Stan wants children, gets a hundred, and meets a dragon» 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/1769-pg641-part20/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1769-pg641-part20:e1:1
# text = What was the cause of the household's misfortune, as stated by the wife?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	stated	state	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the cause |  |  |  | of the household's misfortune | tree rules |
| 2 | **state** *speech: other* | participle |  | the cause *not said here* |  |  |  | by the wife | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The loss of the good cow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1769-pg641-part20:e1:o1:1
# text = The loss of the good cow
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lack of rain for the fields

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1769-pg641-part20:e1:o2:1
# text = Lack of rain for the fields
1	Lack	lack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lack** |  |  | rain |  |  |  | for the fields | nom lack «state transitive»: of=patient for=obl |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The absence of children

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1769-pg641-part20:e1:o3:1
# text = The absence of children
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	absence	absence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **absent** |  |  | children |  |  |  |  | nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The absence of children, which was a curse upon the whole house and its lands

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1769-pg641-part20:e1:o4:1
# text = The absence of children, which was a curse upon the whole house and its lands
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	absence	absence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	curse	curse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
10	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	lands	land	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the absence of children and a curse and house's lands | a curse |  |  |  | upon the whole house | tree rules |
| 2 | **absent** |  |  | children |  |  |  |  | nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient |

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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: [Roumanian Fairy Tales, Stan Bolovan, p…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1769-pg641-part20/t13/)
- next →: [Roumanian Fairy Tales, Stan Bolovan, p…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1769-pg641-part20/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Roumanian Fairy Tales, Stan Bolovan, part 20: Stan wants children, gets a hundred, and meets a dragon](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1769-pg641-part20/)