---
title: What is the precise nature of the task imposed upon Vasilissa by Bab… — Russian Fairy Tales, Vasilissa the Bea… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is the precise nature of the task imposed upon Vasilissa by Baba Yaga on her first evening? Exam question 4 of lesson 442 «Russian Fairy Tales, Vasilissa the Beautiful, part 34: Vasilissa goes to Baba Yaga's for a light and gets through an impossible task» of the books course of Mova's primary 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Russian Fairy Tales, Vasilissa the Beautiful, part 34: Vas…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What is the precise nature of the task imposed upon Vasilissa by Baba Yaga on her first evening?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** precise nature · **What happens:** be, impose · **To what, where:** task

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 442 «Russian Fairy Tales, Vasilissa the Beautiful, part 34: Vasilissa goes to Baba Yaga's for a light and gets through an impossible task» 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/442-pg22373-part34/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:442-pg22373-part34:e4:1
# text = What is the precise nature of the task imposed upon Vasilissa by Baba Yaga on her first evening?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	precise	precise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	imposed	impose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Vasilissa	Vasilissa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
12	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	Baba	Baba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	Yaga	Yaga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	flat	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
17	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	18	amod	_	_
18	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the precise nature of the task |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **impose** | participle |  | the task *not said here* |  |  |  | upon Vasilissa; by Baba on Baba's first evening | vn enforce-63 «NP V that S»: agent=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 -->
Cleaning wheat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:442-pg22373-part34:e4:o1:1
# text = Cleaning wheat
1	Cleaning	clean	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	wheat	wheat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sifting six sacks of barley by dawn

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:442-pg22373-part34:e4:o2:1
# text = Sifting six sacks of barley by dawn
1	Sifting	sift	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	sacks	sack	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	barley	barley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	dawn	dawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sift** | gerund |  | six sacks of barley |  |  | dawn |  | vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sack=Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Clearing four quarters of wheat of other seed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:442-pg22373-part34:e4:o3:1
# text = Clearing four quarters of wheat of other seed
1	Clearing	clear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	quarters	quarter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	wheat	wheat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clear** | gerund |  | four quarters of wheat of other seed |  |  |  |  | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent quarter=Source |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Separating four baskets of rye from weeds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:442-pg22373-part34:e4:o4:1
# text = Separating four baskets of rye from weeds
1	Separating	separate	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	baskets	basket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	rye	rye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	weeds	weed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **separate** | gerund |  | four baskets of rye |  |  |  | from weeds | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent basket=Patient from weed=Co-Patient |

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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: [Russian Fairy Tales, Vasilissa the Bea…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/442-pg22373-part34/e3/)
- next →: [Russian Folk-Tales, Vasilissa the Beau…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/443-pg22373-part35/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Russian Fairy Tales, Vasilissa the Beautiful, part 34: Vasilissa goes to Baba Yaga's for a light and gets through an impossible task](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/442-pg22373-part34/)