---
title: What was the principal impediment encountered by the Queen upon the… — Fairy Tales, The Blue Bird, part 6: Fi… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal impediment encountered by the Queen upon the ivory hill? Exam question 2 of lesson 1869 «Fairy Tales, The Blue Bird, part 6: Fiordelisa climbs, is carried by doves, and sells the bracelets» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics o
---

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# Exam question 2 · Fairy Tales, The Blue Bird, part 6: Fiordelisa climbs, is…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal impediment encountered by the Queen upon the ivory hill?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be, encounter · **To what, where:** principal impediment

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1869 «Fairy Tales, The Blue Bird, part 6: Fiordelisa climbs, is carried by doves, and sells the bracelets» 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/1869-pg7277-part6/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1869-pg7277-part6:e2:1
# text = What was the principal impediment encountered by the Queen upon the ivory hill?
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	impediment	impediment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	encountered	encounter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	ivory	ivory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	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 impediment |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **encounter** | participle |  | the principal impediment *not said here* |  |  |  | by the Queen; upon the ivory hill | vn encounter-30.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 thick morning fog

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1869-pg7277-part6:e2:o1:1
# text = the thick morning fog
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	fog	fog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the hill's slippery ivory surface and its enormous steepness

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1869-pg7277-part6:e2:o2:1
# text = the hill's slippery ivory surface and its enormous steepness
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	slippery	slippery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	ivory	ivory	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
9	enormous	enormous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	steepness	steepness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the dragon guarding the summit and the sharp ivory thorns

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1869-pg7277-part6:e2:o3:1
# text = the dragon guarding the summit and the sharp ivory thorns
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	guarding	guard	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	summit	summit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	ivory	ivory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	thorns	thorn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guard** | gerund | the dragon and the sharp ivory thorns *not said here* | the summit |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent summit=Beneficiary |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
its excessive steepness

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1869-pg7277-part6:e2:o4:1
# text = its excessive steepness
1	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	excessive	excessive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	steepness	steepness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .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 Tales, The Blue Bird, part 6: Fi…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1869-pg7277-part6/e1/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales, The Blue Bird, part 6: Fi…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1869-pg7277-part6/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Tales, The Blue Bird, part 6: Fiordelisa climbs, is carried by doves, and sells the bracelets](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1869-pg7277-part6/)