---
title: State the principal reason that the old fox pretended to be dead ben… — Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Wishing-Cloak… · tree and pragmatics
description: State the principal reason that the old fox pretended to be dead beneath the bench. Exam question 2 of lesson 779 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Wishing-Cloak, part 55: a sister frees her ravens, Mrs Fox tests her suitors, and a huntsman gets a magic cloak» of the books course of Mova's primary school, w
---

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# Exam question 2 · Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Wishing-Cloak, part 55: a sister…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the principal reason that the old fox pretended to be dead beneath the bench.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** old fox · **What happens:** pretend, be · **To what, where:** State principal reason

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 779 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Wishing-Cloak, part 55: a sister frees her ravens, Mrs Fox tests her suitors, and a huntsman gets a magic cloak» 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/779-pg2591-part55/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:779-pg2591-part55:e2:1
# text = State the principal reason that the old fox pretended to be dead beneath the bench.
1	State	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	pretended	pretend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	cop	_	_
12	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	advcl	_	_
13	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	bench	bench	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pretend** | past | the old fox | the State principal reason |  |  |  | beneath the bench | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | the old fox *not said here* |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To test the fidelity of his wife

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:779-pg2591-part55:e2:o1:1
# text = To test the fidelity of his wife
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	test	test	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	fidelity	fidelity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **test** | to-infinitive |  | the fidelity of his wife |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fidelity=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To hide from the huntsman's dogs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:779-pg2591-part55:e2:o2:1
# text = To hide from the huntsman's dogs
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hide	hide	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	huntsman	huntsman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | from the huntsman's dogs | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent from dog=Beneficiary |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To test the loyalty of his wife and the cat both

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:779-pg2591-part55:e2:o3:1
# text = To test the loyalty of his wife and the cat both
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	test	test	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	loyalty	loyalty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
11	both	both	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **test** | to-infinitive |  | the loyalty of his wife and the cat |  |  |  | both *property* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent loyalty=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To determine the fidelity of his wife before the wedding feast began

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:779-pg2591-part55:e2:o4:1
# text = To determine the fidelity of his wife before the wedding feast began
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	determine	determine	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	fidelity	fidelity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	before	before	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	wedding	wedding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
12	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **determine** | to-infinitive |  | the fidelity of his wife |  |  | before the wedding feast |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fidelity=Topic |
| 2 | **begin** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

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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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- ← previous: [Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Wishing-Cloak…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/779-pg2591-part55/e1/)
- next →: [Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Wishing-Cloak…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/779-pg2591-part55/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Wishing-Cloak, part 55: a sister frees her ravens, Mrs Fox tests her suitors, and a huntsman gets a magic cloak](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/779-pg2591-part55/)