---
title: What was the nature of the ploughman's wish regarding his offspring? — English Fairy Tales, The Red Ettin: th… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the nature of the ploughman's wish regarding his offspring? Exam question 3 of lesson 1963 «English Fairy Tales, The Red Ettin: the young man beats the three-headed Ettin with riddles and a magic wand, and frees the king's daughter and the prisoners.» of the books course of Mova's primary s
---

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# Exam question 3 · English Fairy Tales, The Red Ettin: the young man beats th…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the nature of the ploughman's wish regarding his offspring?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** nature, ploughman · **What happens:** be, regard, wish

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 1963 «English Fairy Tales, The Red Ettin: the young man beats the three-headed Ettin with riddles and a magic wand, and frees the king's daughter and the prisoners.» 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/1963-pg7439-part22/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1963-pg7439-part22:e3:1
# text = What was the nature of the ploughman's wish regarding his offspring?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	ploughman	ploughman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
10	regarding	regard	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	offspring	offspring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the nature of the ploughman's wish regard his offspring |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **regard** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **wish** |  | the ploughman |  |  |  |  | regard his offspring | nom wish «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent regard=obl |

<!-- .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 -->
a son as small as a bean

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1963-pg7439-part22:e3:o1:1
# text = a son as small as a bean
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	as	as	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	as	as	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	bean	bean	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a son no larger than a thumb

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1963-pg7439-part22:e3:o2:1
# text = a son no larger than a thumb
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	no	no	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	thumb	thumb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a child the size of a hand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1963-pg7439-part22:e3:o3:1
# text = a child the size of a hand
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a son no larger than a thumb, yet clever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1963-pg7439-part22:e3:o4:1
# text = a son no larger than a thumb, yet clever
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	no	no	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	thumb	thumb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .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: [English Fairy Tales, The Red Ettin: th…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1963-pg7439-part22/e2/)
- next →: [English Fairy Tales, The Red Ettin: th…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1963-pg7439-part22/e4/)
- ↑ back to [English Fairy Tales, The Red Ettin: the young man beats the three-headed Ettin with riddles and a magic wand, and frees the king's daughter and the prisoners.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1963-pg7439-part22/)