---
title: What was the principal reason for the parents' decision to abandon t… — Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal reason for the parents' decision to abandon their children? Exam question 2 of lesson 743 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel, part 19: the children are led into the forest and get lost» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/743-pg2591-part19/e2/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/743-pg2591-part19/) / e2

# Exam question 2 · Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel, part 19: the child…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal reason for the parents' decision to abandon their children?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** parents · **What happens:** be, abandon, decide · **To what, where:** principal reason, children

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 743 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel, part 19: the children are led into the forest and get lost» 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/743-pg2591-part19/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:743-pg2591-part19:e2:1
# text = What was the principal reason for the parents' decision to abandon their children?
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	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	'	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	decision	decision	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	abandon	abandon	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	acl	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the principal reason |  |  |  | for the parents's decision | tree rules |
| 2 | **abandon** | to-infinitive |  | parents's children |  |  |  |  | vn leave-51.2 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme child=Source |
| 3 | **decide** |  | the parents |  |  |  |  |  | nom decision «act transitive»: 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A wicked stepmother's cruel plan

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:743-pg2591-part19:e2:o1:1
# text = A wicked stepmother's cruel plan
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **plan** |  | a wicked stepmother |  |  |  |  |  | nom plan «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Severe famine afflicting the household

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:743-pg2591-part19:e2:o2:1
# text = Severe famine afflicting the household
1	Severe	severe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	famine	famine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	afflicting	afflict	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **afflict** | gerund | Severe famine *not said here* | the household |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus household=Experiencer |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hunger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:743-pg2591-part19:e2:o3:1
# text = Hunger
1	Hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their family was very poor

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:743-pg2591-part19:e2:o4:1
# text = Their family was very poor
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Their family |  |  |  |  | poor *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/743-pg2591-part19/e1/)
- next →: [Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/743-pg2591-part19/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel, part 19: the children are led into the forest and get lost](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/743-pg2591-part19/)