---
title: What was the principal cause of the illness afflicting the royal fam… — Esthonian Tales, Tiidu the Piper: Tiid… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal cause of the illness afflicting the royal family? Exam question 2 of lesson 680 «Esthonian Tales, Tiidu the Piper: Tiidu sells magic apples at the palace, and the royal noses grow.» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the qu
---

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# Exam question 2 · Esthonian Tales, Tiidu the Piper: Tiidu sells magic apples…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal cause of the illness afflicting the royal family?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** illness · **What happens:** be, afflict · **To what, where:** principal cause, royal family

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 680 «Esthonian Tales, Tiidu the Piper: Tiidu sells magic apples at the palace, and the royal noses grow.» 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/680-pg2435-part20/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:680-pg2435-part20:e2:1
# text = What was the principal cause of the illness afflicting the royal family?
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	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	illness	illness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	afflicting	afflict	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	royal	royal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the principal cause |  |  |  | of the illness | tree rules |
| 2 | **afflict** | gerund | the illness *not said here* | the royal family |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus family=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 -->
Drinking the stranger's tea each morning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:680-pg2435-part20:e2:o1:1
# text = Drinking the stranger's tea each morning
1	Drinking	drink	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
6	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drink** | gerund |  | the stranger's tea |  |  | morning |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tea=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Eating the stranger's bread

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:680-pg2435-part20:e2:o2:1
# text = Eating the stranger's bread
1	Eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | gerund |  | the stranger's bread |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bread=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Poisoned wine

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:680-pg2435-part20:e2:o3:1
# text = Poisoned wine
1	Poisoned	poison	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	amod	_	_
2	wine	wine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **poison** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Consumption of the stranger's apples

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:680-pg2435-part20:e2:o4:1
# text = Consumption of the stranger's apples
1	Consumption	consumption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	apples	apple	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consume** |  |  | the stranger's apples |  |  |  |  | nom consumption «act transitive»: of=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: [Esthonian Tales, Tiidu the Piper: Tiid…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/680-pg2435-part20/e1/)
- next →: [Esthonian Tales, Tiidu the Piper: Tiid…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/680-pg2435-part20/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Esthonian Tales, Tiidu the Piper: Tiidu sells magic apples at the palace, and the royal noses grow.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/680-pg2435-part20/)