---
title: Which object did the girl employ to sever the tulips from their stems? — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Darning Ne… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which object did the girl employ to sever the tulips from their stems? Exam question 1 of lesson 812 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Darning Needle, part 1: a proud needle is lost in a gutter» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of e
---

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# Exam question 1 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Darning Needle, part 1: a prou…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which object did the girl employ to sever the tulips from their stems?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** object, tulips · **What happens:** employ, sever, stem · **To what, where:** tulips, stems

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 812 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Darning Needle, part 1: a proud needle is lost in a gutter» 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/812-pg27200-part23/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:812-pg27200-part23:e1:1
# text = Which object did the girl employ to sever the tulips from their stems?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	object	object	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	employ	employ	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	sever	sever	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	tulips	tulip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	stems	stem	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | past · do-support | which object |  |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **sever** | to-infinitive | which object *not said here* | the tulips |  | tulips's stems |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent tulip=Theme from stem=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **stem** |  | tulips *= tulip* |  |  |  |  |  | nom stem «communication transitive»: 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 kitchen's big tool

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:812-pg27200-part23:e1:o1:1
# text = the kitchen's big tool
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	tool	tool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the enormous steel knife from the kitchen drawer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:812-pg27200-part23:e1:o2:1
# text = the enormous steel knife from the kitchen drawer
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	enormous	enormous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	drawer	drawer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the large sharp knife kept by the girl

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:812-pg27200-part23:e1:o3:1
# text = the large sharp knife kept by the girl
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | participle |  | the large sharp knife *not said here* |  |  |  | by the girl | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent by girl=Location |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the large sharp knife

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:812-pg27200-part23:e1:o4:1
# text = the large sharp knife
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .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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- ← previous: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Darning Ne…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/812-pg27200-part23/t13/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Darning Ne…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/812-pg27200-part23/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Darning Needle, part 1: a proud needle is lost in a gutter](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/812-pg27200-part23/)