---
title: Which supernatural agency does the wives petition in order to obstru… — Indian Fairy Tales, Punchkin, the Brok… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which supernatural agency does the wives petition in order to obstruct the sister's task? Exam question 4 of lesson 1824 «Indian Fairy Tales, Punchkin, the Broken Pot and the Magic Fiddle: the Prince wins his parrot, Punchkin dies, and a greedy Brahman and a jealous sister-in-law are introduced» of 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Indian Fairy Tales, Punchkin, the Broken Pot and the Magic…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which supernatural agency does the wives petition in order to obstruct the sister's task?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** supernatural agency, sister · **What happens:** do, obstruct, task · **To what, where:** wives petition, task

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 1824 «Indian Fairy Tales, Punchkin, the Broken Pot and the Magic Fiddle: the Prince wins his parrot, Punchkin dies, and a greedy Brahman and a jealous sister-in-law are introduced» 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/1824-pg7128-part8/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1824-pg7128-part8:e4:1
# text = Which supernatural agency does the wives petition in order to obstruct the sister's task?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	supernatural	supernatural	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	agency	agency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	compound	_	_
7	petition	petition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	in	in	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	11	mark	_	_
9	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	fixed	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	obstruct	obstruct	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present | supernatural agency | the wives petition |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent petition=Eventuality |
| 2 | **obstruct** | to-infinitive | supernatural agency *not said here* | the sister's task |  |  |  |  | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer task=Eventuality |
| 3 | **task** |  | the sister |  |  |  |  |  | nom task «act transitive»: poss=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 -->
A demon who takes their food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1824-pg7128-part8:e4:o1:1
# text = A demon who takes their food
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	demon	demon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	takes	take	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | present | a demon | their food |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A priest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1824-pg7128-part8:e4:o2:1
# text = A priest
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A goddess who grants their wishes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1824-pg7128-part8:e4:o3:1
# text = A goddess who grants their wishes
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	goddess	goddess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	grants	grant	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	wishes	wish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grant** | present | a goddess | their wishes |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent wish=Theme |
| 2 | **wish** |  | their *= they* |  |  |  |  |  | nom wish «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A Bonga, to whom they make vows

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1824-pg7128-part8:e4:o4:1
# text = A Bonga, to whom they make vows
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Bonga	Bonga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	obj	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	vows	vow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | a Bonga | vows |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset whom=Beneficiary vow=Product |

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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: [Indian Fairy Tales, Punchkin, the Brok…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1824-pg7128-part8/e3/)
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