---
title: What was the principal obstacle to the travellers' return across the… — Grimm's Tales, The Flute-Player: the y… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal obstacle to the travellers' return across the river? Exam question 2 of lesson 1940 «Grimm's Tales, The Flute-Player: the youth wakes the sleeping Princess and wins her kingdom» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questi
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1940-pg7277-part77/e2/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Grimm's Tales, The Flute-Player: the y…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1940-pg7277-part77/) / e2

# Exam question 2 · Grimm's Tales, The Flute-Player: the youth wakes the sleep…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal obstacle to the travellers' return across the river?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** travellers · **What happens:** be, return · **To what, where:** principal obstacle, river

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1940 «Grimm's Tales, The Flute-Player: the youth wakes the sleeping Princess and wins her kingdom» 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/1940-pg7277-part77/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1940-pg7277-part77:e2:1
# text = What was the principal obstacle to the travellers' return across the river?
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	obstacle	obstacle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	travellers	traveller	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	'	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
11	across	across	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	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 obstacle |  |  |  | to the travellers's return across the river | tree rules |
| 2 | **return** |  | the travellers |  |  | the river |  |  | nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent across=place |

<!-- .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 rocky banks and a sharp cliff

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1940-pg7277-part77:e2:o1:1
# text = The rocky banks and a sharp cliff
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	rocky	rocky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	banks	bank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	cliff	cliff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The violent current and roaring waters that no boat could survive

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1940-pg7277-part77:e2:o2:1
# text = The violent current and roaring waters that no boat could survive
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	violent	violent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	current	current	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	roaring	roar	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	amod	_	_
6	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obj	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	survive	survive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roar** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **survive** | could | no boat | the violent current and roaring waters |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme that=Circumstance |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The violent current and roaring waters

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1940-pg7277-part77:e2:o3:1
# text = The violent current and roaring waters
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	violent	violent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	current	current	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	roaring	roar	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
6	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roar** | gerund |  | waters |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location water=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fierce wind and the rising tide

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1940-pg7277-part77:e2:o4:1
# text = The fierce wind and the rising tide
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	rising	rising	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	tide	tide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

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

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Grimm's Tales, The Flute-Player: the y…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1940-pg7277-part77/e1/)
- next →: [Grimm's Tales, The Flute-Player: the y…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1940-pg7277-part77/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Grimm's Tales, The Flute-Player: the youth wakes the sleeping Princess and wins her kingdom](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1940-pg7277-part77/)