---
title: What was the principal cause of Noureddin's financial ruin? — Arabian Nights, Noureddin and the Beau… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal cause of Noureddin's financial ruin? Exam question 2 of lesson 207 «Arabian Nights, Noureddin and the Beautiful Persian, part 47: Noureddin's friends desert him and the Persian is put up for sale» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragm
---

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# Exam question 2 · Arabian Nights, Noureddin and the Beautiful Persian, part…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal cause of Noureddin's financial ruin?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Noureddin · **What happens:** be, ruin · **To what, where:** principal cause

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 207 «Arabian Nights, Noureddin and the Beautiful Persian, part 47: Noureddin's friends desert him and the Persian is put up for sale» 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/207-pg128-part47/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:207-pg128-part47:e2:1
# text = What was the principal cause of Noureddin's financial ruin?
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	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	Noureddin	Noureddin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	financial	financial	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	ruin	ruin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the principal cause |  |  |  | of Noureddin's financial ruin | tree rules |
| 2 | **ruin** |  | Noureddin |  |  |  |  |  | nom ruin «state 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Unwise investments by his steward

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:207-pg128-part47:e2:o1:1
# text = Unwise investments by his steward
1	Unwise	unwise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	investments	investment	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	steward	steward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invest** |  | his steward |  |  |  |  |  | nom investment «act transitive»: by=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bad luck at dice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:207-pg128-part47:e2:o2:1
# text = Bad luck at dice
1	Bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	luck	luck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	dice	dice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His prodigal expenditure upon his companions

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:207-pg128-part47:e2:o3:1
# text = His prodigal expenditure upon his companions
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	prodigal	prodigal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	expenditure	expenditure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	companions	companion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **expend** |  | His *= he* |  |  |  |  | upon his companions | nom expenditure «possession transitive»: poss=agent upon=obl |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His wild gambling with the merchants

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:207-pg128-part47:e2:o4:1
# text = His wild gambling with the merchants
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	gambling	gambling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	merchants	merchant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gamble** |  | His *= he* |  |  |  |  | with the merchants | nom gambling «act intransitive»: poss=agent with=obl |

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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: [Arabian Nights, Noureddin and the Beau…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/207-pg128-part47/e1/)
- next →: [Arabian Nights, Noureddin and the Beau…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/207-pg128-part47/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Arabian Nights, Noureddin and the Beautiful Persian, part 47: Noureddin's friends desert him and the Persian is put up for sale](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/207-pg128-part47/)