---
title: In what manner did the young husband describe the old man's circumst… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Steadfast… · tree and pragmatics
description: In what manner did the young husband describe the old man's circumstances to his wife? Exam question 4 of lesson 300 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Steadfast Tin Soldier: the soldier is found again in a garden, then The Happy Family begins» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the depend
---

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# Exam question 4 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Steadfast Tin Soldier: the sol…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In what manner did the young husband describe the old man's circumstances to his wife?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** young husband · **What happens:** do, describe · **To what, where:** manner, circumstances

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 300 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Steadfast Tin Soldier: the soldier is found again in a garden, then The Happy Family begins» 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/300-pg1597-part27/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:300-pg1597-part27:e4:1
# text = In what manner did the young husband describe the old man's circumstances to his wife?
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	3	det	_	_
3	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	describe	describe	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  | what manner |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **describe** | present | the young husband | the old man's circumstances |  |  |  | to husband's wife | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent circumstance=Theme to wife=be' |

<!-- .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 -->
as a man who had been very lonely for many years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:300-pg1597-part27:e4:o1:1
# text = as a man who had been very lonely for many years
1	as	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	cop	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	lonely	lonely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  | year | as a man; lonely *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
as a man who had been very lonely

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:300-pg1597-part27:e4:o2:1
# text = as a man who had been very lonely
1	as	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	cop	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	lonely	lonely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | as a man; lonely *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
as a man who had been very poor

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:300-pg1597-part27:e4:o3:1
# text = as a man who had been very poor
1	as	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	cop	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | as a man; poor *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
as a man who had lost his wife

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:300-pg1597-part27:e4:o4:1
# text = as a man who had lost his wife
1	as	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | past · perfect | a man | man's wife |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Eventuality |

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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: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Steadfast…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/300-pg1597-part27/e3/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Story of a…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/301-pg1597-part28/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Steadfast Tin Soldier: the soldier is found again in a garden, then The Happy Family begins](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/300-pg1597-part27/)