---
title: What instruction did the bird-husband give to the wife concerning th… — English Fairy Tales, The Three Feather… · tree and pragmatics
description: What instruction did the bird-husband give to the wife concerning the men's savings? Exam question 4 of lesson 241 «English Fairy Tales, The Three Feathers: the laundry-maid's spell sends the men into the pond until her bird-husband comes to take her away» of the books course of Mova's primary schoo
---

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# Exam question 4 · English Fairy Tales, The Three Feathers: the laundry-maid'…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What instruction did the bird-husband give to the wife concerning the men's savings?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** instruction, bird husband, wife, men · **What happens:** do, give, concern, save · **To what, where:** wife, savings

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 241 «English Fairy Tales, The Three Feathers: the laundry-maid's spell sends the men into the pond until her bird-husband comes to take her away» 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/241-pg14241-part8/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:241-pg14241-part8:e4:1
# text = What instruction did the bird-husband give to the wife concerning the men's savings?
1	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	instruction	instruction	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	7	det	_	_
5	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	acl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	's	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	savings	savings	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | what instruction |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **give** | present | the bird husband |  | the wife |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to wife=Recipient |
| 3 | **concern** | gerund | the wife *not said here* | the men's savings |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus savings=Experiencer |
| 4 | **save** |  | the men |  |  |  |  |  | nom savings «possession 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to hand them to the cook

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:241-pg14241-part8:e4:o1:1
# text = to hand them to the cook
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hand	hand	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	cook	cook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hand** | to-infinitive |  | them *= they* |  | the cook |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to cook=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to give each one his share

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:241-pg14241-part8:e4:o2:1
# text = to give each one his share
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	give	give	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	share	share	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | to-infinitive |  | each one |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent one=Recipient share=Theme |
| 2 | **share** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom share «possession transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to keep them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:241-pg14241-part8:e4:o3:1
# text = to keep them
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to restore them to each man

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:241-pg14241-part8:e4:o4:1
# text = to restore them to each man
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	restore	restore	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **restore** | to-infinitive |  | them *= they* | each man |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Theme to man=Recipient |

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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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