---
title: What reason does the text give for the butterfly's failure to obtain… — Andersen's Tales, The Butterfly: a but… · tree and pragmatics
description: What reason does the text give for the butterfly's failure to obtain a wife at any time during his life? Exam question 3 of lesson 808 «Andersen's Tales, The Butterfly: a butterfly cannot choose a wife and is pinned in a box of curiosities» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the depe
---

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# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, The Butterfly: a butterfly cannot choose…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What reason does the text give for the butterfly's failure to obtain a wife at any time during his life?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** reason, text, butterfly · **What happens:** do, give, obtain, fail · **To what, where:** wife

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 808 «Andersen's Tales, The Butterfly: a butterfly cannot choose a wife and is pinned in a box of curiosities» 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/808-pg27200-part19/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:808-pg27200-part19:e3:1
# text = What reason does the text give for the butterfly's failure to obtain a wife at any time during his life?
1	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	butterfly	butterfly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	failure	failure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	obtain	obtain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	18	det	_	_
18	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
19	during	during	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present | what reason |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **give** | present | the text |  |  |  |  | for the butterfly's failure | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent for failure=Asset |
| 3 | **obtain** | to-infinitive | the text *not said here* | a wife |  |  | during text's life; time |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset wife=Theme |
| 4 | **fail** |  | the butterfly |  |  |  |  |  | nom failure «act 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His excessive delay in choosing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:808-pg27200-part19:e3:o1:1
# text = His excessive delay in choosing
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	excessive	excessive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	delay	delay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	choosing	choose	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | gerund | His excessive delay *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was shy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:808-pg27200-part19:e3:o2:1
# text = He was shy
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	cop	_	_
3	shy	shy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His careless pick of the wrong flower

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:808-pg27200-part19:e3:o3:1
# text = His careless pick of the wrong flower
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	careless	careless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	pick	pick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pick** |  | His *= he* | the wrong flower |  |  |  |  | nom pick «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His poor choice of flowers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:808-pg27200-part19:e3:o4:1
# text = His poor choice of flowers
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	choice	choice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .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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