---
title: What was the girl's stated purpose in striking the matches against t… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mat… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the girl's stated purpose in striking the matches against the wall? Exam question 2 of lesson 306 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Match Girl: a poor girl freezes on New Year's Eve» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and 
---

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# Exam question 2 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Match Girl: a poor girl…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the girl's stated purpose in striking the matches against the wall?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** stated purpose, girl · **What happens:** be, state, strike, purpose · **To what, where:** matches

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 306 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Match Girl: a poor girl freezes on New Year's Eve» 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/306-pg1597-part33/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:306-pg1597-part33:e2:1
# text = What was the girl's stated purpose in striking the matches against the wall?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	stated	state	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
8	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	striking	strike	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	matches	match	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	against	against	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the girl's stated purpose |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **state** *speech: other* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **strike** | gerund | the girl's stated purpose *not said here* | the matches |  |  |  | against the wall | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent match=Instrument against wall=Patient |
| 4 | **purpose** |  | the girl |  |  |  |  |  | nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: 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 -->
to dry her hands

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:306-pg1597-part33:e2:o1:1
# text = to dry her hands
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	dry	dry	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dry** | to-infinitive |  | her hands |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient hand=Result |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to warm her fingers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:306-pg1597-part33:e2:o2:1
# text = to warm her fingers
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	warm	warm	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **warm** | to-infinitive |  | her fingers |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent finger=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to light the stove

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:306-pg1597-part33:e2:o3:1
# text = to light the stove
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	light	light	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	stove	stove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **light** | to-infinitive |  | the stove |  |  |  |  | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stove=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to see better

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:306-pg1597-part33:e2:o4:1
# text = to see better
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	see	see	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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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 Little Mat…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/306-pg1597-part33/e1/)
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