---
title: Which fairy was to be preferred between the two candidates for sover… — Pink Fairy Book, Prince Mirliflor, par… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which fairy was to be preferred between the two candidates for sovereignty? Exam question 3 of lesson 1875 «Pink Fairy Book, Prince Mirliflor, part 12: the watch falls into the sea and the fairies choose a new Queen» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmati
---

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# Exam question 3 · Pink Fairy Book, Prince Mirliflor, part 12: the watch fall…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which fairy was to be preferred between the two candidates for sovereignty?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1875 «Pink Fairy Book, Prince Mirliflor, part 12: the watch falls into the sea and the fairies choose a new Queen» 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/1875-pg7277-part12/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1875-pg7277-part12:e3:1
# text = Which fairy was to be preferred between the two candidates for sovereignty?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	preferred	prefer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	between	between	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	candidates	candidate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	sovereignty	sovereignty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prefer** | past · passive |  | which fairy |  |  |  | between the two candidates for sovereignty | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 -->
Surcantine, the eldest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1875-pg7277-part12:e3:o1:1
# text = Surcantine, the eldest
1	Surcantine	Surcantine	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Neither, since both were proud

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1875-pg7277-part12:e3:o2:1
# text = Neither, since both were proud
1	Neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	proud	proud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | both |  |  |  |  | neither, proud *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The younger of the two

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1875-pg7277-part12:e3:o3:1
# text = The younger of the two
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	younger	young	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	obl	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Neither, as their claims were equal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1875-pg7277-part12:e3:o4:1
# text = Neither, as their claims were equal
1	Neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	claims	claim	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	equal	equal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | as their claims; equal, neither *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **claim** |  | their *= they* |  |  |  |  |  | nom claim «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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: [Pink Fairy Book, Prince Mirliflor, par…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1875-pg7277-part12/e2/)
- next →: [Pink Fairy Book, Prince Mirliflor, par…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1875-pg7277-part12/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Pink Fairy Book, Prince Mirliflor, part 12: the watch falls into the sea and the fairies choose a new Queen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1875-pg7277-part12/)