---
title: According to the passage, what custom governs the use of "thou" and… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shadow, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: According to the passage, what custom governs the use of "thou" and "you" between acquaintances in Denmark? Exam question 3 of lesson 304 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shadow, part 31: the shadow returns as a fine gentleman and boasts of what he saw» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with
---

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# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shadow, part 31: the shadow re…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
According to the passage, what custom governs the use of "thou" and "you" between acquaintances in Denmark?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** custom · **What happens:** accord, govern, use · **To what, where:** use, thou

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 304 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shadow, part 31: the shadow returns as a fine gentleman and boasts of what he saw» 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/304-pg1597-part31/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:304-pg1597-part31:e3:1
# text = According to the passage, what custom governs the use of "thou" and "you" between acquaintances in Denmark?
1	According	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	case	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	1	fixed	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	obj	_	_
7	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	governs	govern	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
19	between	between	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	acquaintances	acquaintance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Denmark	Denmark	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **govern** | present | custom | the use of thou |  |  |  | accord the passage | tree rules |
| 3 | **use** |  |  | thou |  |  |  |  | nom use «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
Only kings say you

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:304-pg1597-part31:e3:o1:1
# text = Only kings say you
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	kings	king	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | kings | you |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent you=Topic |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Friends use thou

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:304-pg1597-part31:e3:o2:1
# text = Friends use thou
1	Friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present | Friends | thou |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Intimate friends employ "thou", whereas strangers employ "you"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:304-pg1597-part31:e3:o3:1
# text = Intimate friends employ "thou", whereas strangers employ "you"
1	Intimate	intimate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	employ	employ	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	whereas	whereas	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obj	_	_
9	strangers	stranger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	employ	employ	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | present | Intimate friends | thou |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Theme |
| 2 | **employ** | present | strangers | whereas |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dear friends call each other thou, and strangers are called you

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:304-pg1597-part31:e3:o4:1
# text = Dear friends call each other thou, and strangers are called you
1	Dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	call	call	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	3	obj	_	_
5	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	fixed	_	_
6	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	strangers	stranger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | present | Dear friends | each |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent each=Theme thou=Result |
| 2 | **call** | present · passive |  | strangers |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Theme you=Result |

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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: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shadow, pa…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/304-pg1597-part31/e2/)
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