---
title: What was the principal impediment to the kettle's stability upon the… — Europe's Fairy Book, Tiidu the Piper,… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal impediment to the kettle's stability upon the tripod? Exam question 2 of lesson 677 «Europe's Fairy Book, Tiidu the Piper, part 17: a wise maiden is carried off, and lazy Tiidu finds his pipes» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmati
---

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# Exam question 2 · Europe's Fairy Book, Tiidu the Piper, part 17: a wise maid…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal impediment to the kettle's stability upon the tripod?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** principal impediment

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 677 «Europe's Fairy Book, Tiidu the Piper, part 17: a wise maiden is carried off, and lazy Tiidu finds his pipes» 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/677-pg2435-part17/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:677-pg2435-part17:e2:1
# text = What was the principal impediment to the kettle's stability upon the tripod?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	impediment	impediment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	kettle	kettle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	stability	stability	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
11	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	tripod	tripod	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the principal impediment |  |  |  | to the kettle's stability upon the tripod | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
its weight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:677-pg2435-part17:e2:o1:1
# text = its weight
1	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
its tendency to slip from the stand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:677-pg2435-part17:e2:o2:1
# text = its tendency to slip from the stand
1	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	tendency	tendency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	slip	slip	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stand	stand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slip** | to-infinitive | its tendency |  |  |  |  | from the stand | vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from stand=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **tend** |  | its *= it* |  |  |  |  |  | nom tendency «cognition intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the way it kept sliding about

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:677-pg2435-part17:e2:o3:1
# text = the way it kept sliding about
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	sliding	slide	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	xcomp	_	_
6	about	about	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | past | way | the way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **slide** | gerund | the way *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
its unstable base and uneven legs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:677-pg2435-part17:e2:o4:1
# text = its unstable base and uneven legs
1	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	unstable	unstable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	base	base	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	uneven	uneven	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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: [Europe's Fairy Book, Tiidu the Piper,…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/677-pg2435-part17/e1/)
- next →: [Europe's Fairy Book, Tiidu the Piper,…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/677-pg2435-part17/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Europe's Fairy Book, Tiidu the Piper, part 17: a wise maiden is carried off, and lazy Tiidu finds his pipes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/677-pg2435-part17/)