---
title: Which of the following describes the colour of the plums John first… — Fairy Tales, The Little Soldier, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following describes the colour of the plums John first ate? Exam question 2 of lesson 1901 «Fairy Tales, The Little Soldier, part 38: John eats magic plums, sells them, and unmasks the horned Princess» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics
---

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# Exam question 2 · Fairy Tales, The Little Soldier, part 38: John eats magic…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following describes the colour of the plums John first ate?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** John · **What happens:** follow, be, eat · **To what, where:** plums

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 1901 «Fairy Tales, The Little Soldier, part 38: John eats magic plums, sells them, and unmasks the horned Princess» 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/1901-pg7277-part38/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1901-pg7277-part38:e2:1
# text = Which of the following describes the colour of the plums John first ate?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	case	_	_
5	describes	describe	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	plums	plum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
11	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	13	advmod	_	_
13	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of the colour; of the plums | tree rules |
| 3 | **eat** | past | John | the plums *not said here* |  |  |  | first *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plum=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
gold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1901-pg7277-part38:e2:o1:1
# text = gold
1	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
red as blood

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1901-pg7277-part38:e2:o2:1
# text = red as blood
1	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	as	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
pale as milk

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1901-pg7277-part38:e2:o3:1
# text = pale as milk
1	pale	pale	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	as	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yellow as gold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1901-pg7277-part38:e2:o4:1
# text = yellow as gold
1	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	as	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .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 Little Soldier, part…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1901-pg7277-part38/e1/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales, The Little Soldier, part…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1901-pg7277-part38/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Tales, The Little Soldier, part 38: John eats magic plums, sells them, and unmasks the horned Princess](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1901-pg7277-part38/)