---
title: What is the social standing of the poor boy, as stated in the narrat… — Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Ri… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is the social standing of the poor boy, as stated in the narrative? Exam question 3 of lesson 810 «Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Right Place, part 1: a mother's ghostly farewell ends, and a proud girl sneers at "sen" names at a party» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the
---

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# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Right Place, part 1: a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What is the social standing of the poor boy, as stated in the narrative?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be, state · **To what, where:** social standing, narrative

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 810 «Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Right Place, part 1: a mother's ghostly farewell ends, and a proud girl sneers at "sen" names at a party» 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/810-pg27200-part21/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:810-pg27200-part21:e3:1
# text = What is the social standing of the poor boy, as stated in the narrative?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	social	social	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	standing	standing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	stated	state	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	narrative	narrative	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the social standing |  |  |  | of the poor boy | tree rules |
| 2 | **state** *speech: other* | participle |  | the social standing *not said here* |  | the narrative |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=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 -->
He is of a lowly station, and the servants have been told to keep him out of the hall

<!-- fold The tree, 19 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:810-pg27200-part21:e3:o1:1
# text = He is of a lowly station, and the servants have been told to keep him out of the hall
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	lowly	lowly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	station	station	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	out	out	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	hall	hall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  |  |  | of a lowly station | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · perfect · passive |  | the servants |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **keep** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the servants *not said here* | him *= he* |  | the hall |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent he=Theme out hall=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is from a farming family

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:810-pg27200-part21:e3:o2:1
# text = He is from a farming family
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	farming	farming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  | a farming family |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is of a lowly station

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:810-pg27200-part21:e3:o3:1
# text = He is of a lowly station
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	lowly	lowly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	station	station	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  |  |  | of a lowly station | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is of a noble birth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:810-pg27200-part21:e3:o4:1
# text = He is of a noble birth
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	noble	noble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  |  |  | of a noble birth | 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 -->

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- ← previous: [Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Ri…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/810-pg27200-part21/e2/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Ri…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/810-pg27200-part21/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Right Place, part 1: a mother's ghostly farewell ends, and a proud girl sneers at "sen" names at a party](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/810-pg27200-part21/)