---
title: What was the principal motive of the sea-maiden in responding to the… — Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal motive of the sea-maiden in responding to the music? Exam question 4 of lesson 2008 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part 27: the herd wins the princess by untying the heads, then is taken to the loch» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree an
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2008-pg7885-part27/e4/)

<!-- 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/) / [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2008-pg7885-part27/) / e4

# Exam question 4 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part 27: the herd wins t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal motive of the sea-maiden in responding to the music?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** be, respond · **To what, where:** principal motive

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 2008 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part 27: the herd wins the princess by untying the heads, then is taken to the loch» 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/2008-pg7885-part27/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2008-pg7885-part27:e4:1
# text = What was the principal motive of the sea-maiden in responding to the music?
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	motive	motive	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	maiden	maiden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	advcl	_	_
11	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	responding	respond	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	music	music	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the principal motive |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **respond** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | to the music | vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to music=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
a fondness for music

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2008-pg7885-part27:e4:o1:1
# text = a fondness for music
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fondness	fondness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	music	music	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
curiosity

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2008-pg7885-part27:e4:o2:1
# text = curiosity
1	curiosity	curiosity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a wish for gold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2008-pg7885-part27:e4:o3:1
# text = a wish for gold
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
hunger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2008-pg7885-part27:e4:o4:1
# text = hunger
1	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .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: [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2008-pg7885-part27/e3/)
- next →: [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Sea-Maiden: th…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2009-pg7885-part28/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part 27: the herd wins the princess by untying the heads, then is taken to the loch](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2008-pg7885-part27/)