---
title: What was the condition of the merchant's son at the close of this pa… — Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Twelve Huntsm… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the condition of the merchant's son at the close of this passage? Exam question 3 of lesson 776 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Twelve Huntsmen: the false huntsmen are unmasked and the king weds his true bride» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Twelve Huntsmen: the false huntsm…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the condition of the merchant's son at the close of this passage?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** condition, close

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 776 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Twelve Huntsmen: the false huntsmen are unmasked and the king weds his true bride» 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/776-pg2591-part52/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:776-pg2591-part52:e3:1
# text = What was the condition of the merchant's son at the close of this passage?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	close	close	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	det	_	_
15	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the condition |  | the close of this passage |  | of the merchant's son | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was held by the black dwarf

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:776-pg2591-part52:e3:o1:1
# text = He was held by the black dwarf
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | past · passive | the black dwarf | He |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He stood within a circle drawn on the ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:776-pg2591-part52:e3:o2:1
# text = He stood within a circle drawn on the ground
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	within	within	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	drawn	draw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | He |  |  |  |  | within a circle | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **draw** | participle |  | a circle *not said here* |  | the ground |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on ground=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He sat beside a tall oak tree

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:776-pg2591-part52:e3:o3:1
# text = He sat beside a tall oak tree
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	oak	oak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past | He |  |  | a tall oak tree |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent beside tree=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He stood within a circle drawn on the ground while the dwarf circled outside it

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:776-pg2591-part52:e3:o4:1
# text = He stood within a circle drawn on the ground while the dwarf circled outside it
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	within	within	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	drawn	draw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
13	circled	circle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
14	outside	outside	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | He | the dwarf |  |  |  | within a circle | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **draw** | participle |  | a circle *not said here* |  | the ground |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on ground=Destination |
| 3 | **circle** | participle |  | the dwarf *not said here* |  |  |  | outside dwarf | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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