---
title: What reason did the queen give for being unable to grant her son's r… — English Fairy Tales, Coo-my-dove, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: What reason did the queen give for being unable to grant her son's request? Exam question 3 of lesson 1966 «English Fairy Tales, Coo-my-dove, part 1: Johnny-cake is eaten, and the dove flies to the queen» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the qu
---

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# Exam question 3 · English Fairy Tales, Coo-my-dove, part 1: Johnny-cake is e…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What reason did the queen give for being unable to grant her son's request?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** reason, queen, son · **What happens:** do, give, be, grant, request · **To what, where:** request

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1966 «English Fairy Tales, Coo-my-dove, part 1: Johnny-cake is eaten, and the dove flies to the 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/1966-pg7439-part25/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1966-pg7439-part25:e3:1
# text = What reason did the queen give for being unable to grant her son's request?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	obj	_	_
2	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
7	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	cop	_	_
9	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	advcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	grant	grant	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | reason |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **give** | present | the queen |  |  |  |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | gerund | the queen *not said here* |  |  |  |  | unable *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **grant** | to-infinitive | the queen *not said here* | queen's son's request |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent request=Theme |
| 5 | **request** |  | queen's son |  |  |  |  |  | nom request «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
her magic could not reach so far

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1966-pg7439-part25:e3:o1:1
# text = her magic could not reach so far
1	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **reach** | could | her magic |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the spaewife had told her not to use magic there

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1966-pg7439-part25:e3:o2:1
# text = the spaewife had told her not to use magic there
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	spaewife	spaewife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
9	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · passive |  | the spaewife | her *= she* |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **use** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the spaewife *not said here* | magic |  | there |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent magic=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
her spells were too weak

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1966-pg7439-part25:e3:o3:1
# text = her spells were too weak
1	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	spells	spell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | her spells |  |  |  |  | weak *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **spell** |  | her *= she* |  |  |  |  |  | nom spell «state transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
her magic could not reach across the great sea that far

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1966-pg7439-part25:e3:o4:1
# text = her magic could not reach across the great sea that far
1	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	across	across	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
11	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **reach** | could | her magic | the great sea |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent sea=Theme |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [English Fairy Tales, Coo-my-dove, part…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1966-pg7439-part25/e2/)
- next →: [English Fairy Tales, Coo-my-dove, part…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1966-pg7439-part25/e4/)
- ↑ back to [English Fairy Tales, Coo-my-dove, part 1: Johnny-cake is eaten, and the dove flies to the queen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1966-pg7439-part25/)