---
title: Who was the first person to meet the merchant on his return home? — Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Four Skillful… · tree and pragmatics
description: Who was the first person to meet the merchant on his return home? Exam question 3 of lesson 768 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Four Skillful Brothers: the brothers save the princess and share the reward» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question
---

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# Exam question 3 · Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Four Skillful Brothers: the broth…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Who was the first person to meet the merchant on his return home?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** person · **What happens:** be, meet, return · **To what, where:** first person, merchant, return

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 768 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Four Skillful Brothers: the brothers save the princess and share the reward» 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/768-pg2591-part44/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:768-pg2591-part44:e3:1
# text = Who was the first person to meet the merchant on his return home?
1	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	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	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	amod	_	_
5	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
13	home	home	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	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 first person |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **meet** | to-infinitive |  | the merchant |  | person's return |  | home *property* | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent merchant=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **return** |  | person |  |  |  |  |  | nom return «communication 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old servant who had watched the house for many years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:768-pg2591-part44:e3:o1:1
# text = The old servant who had watched the house for many years
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	watched	watch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **watch** | past · perfect | the old servant | the house |  |  | year |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lily, his youngest daughter, who was waiting at the gate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:768-pg2591-part44:e3:o2:1
# text = Lily, his youngest daughter, who was waiting at the gate
1	Lily	Lily	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	parataxis	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | past · progressive | Lily's youngest daughter |  |  | the gate |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at gate=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ruth, his eldest daughter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:768-pg2591-part44:e3:o3:1
# text = Ruth, his eldest daughter
1	Ruth	Ruth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lily, his youngest daughter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:768-pg2591-part44:e3:o4:1
# text = Lily, his youngest daughter
1	Lily	Lily	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
```

<!-- .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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- ↑ back to [Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Four Skillful Brothers: the brothers save the princess and share the reward](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/768-pg2591-part44/)