---
title: What was the principal motive for the daisy's distress at the lark's… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Darning Ne… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal motive for the daisy's distress at the lark's captivity? Exam question 2 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
---

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# Exam question 2 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Darning Needle, part 1: a prou…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal motive for the daisy's distress at the lark's captivity?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** daisy · **What happens:** be, distress · **To what, where:** principal motive, captivity

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 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/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:812-pg27200-part23:e2:1
# text = What was the principal motive for the daisy's distress at the lark's captivity?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	motive	motive	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	daisy	daisy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	distress	distress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	lark	lark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	captivity	captivity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the principal motive |  |  |  | for the daisy's distress at the lark's captivity | tree rules |
| 2 | **distress** |  | the daisy |  |  | the lark's captivity |  |  | nom distress «feeling transitive»: poss=agent at=place |

<!-- .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 -->
its deep and sincere pity for the caged bird

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:812-pg27200-part23:e2:o1:1
# text = its deep and sincere pity for the caged bird
1	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
2	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	sincere	sincere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
5	pity	pity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	caged	cage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cage** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **pity** |  | its *= it* |  |  |  |  | for the caged bird | nom pity «feeling transitive»: poss=agent for=obl |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the daisy's wish to be picked by the boy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:812-pg27200-part23:e2:o2:1
# text = the daisy's wish to be picked by the boy
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	daisy	daisy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	picked	pick	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pick** | to-infinitive · passive | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **wish** |  | the daisy |  |  |  |  |  | nom wish «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
its sincere pity for the bird

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:812-pg27200-part23:e2:o3:1
# text = its sincere pity for the bird
1	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	sincere	sincere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	pity	pity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pity** |  | its *= it* |  |  |  |  | for the bird | nom pity «feeling transitive»: poss=agent for=obl |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
its strong love of flowers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:812-pg27200-part23:e2:o4:1
# text = its strong love of flowers
1	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	love	love	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **love** |  | its *= it* | flowers |  |  |  |  | nom love «feeling transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

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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…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/812-pg27200-part23/e1/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Darning Ne…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/812-pg27200-part23/e3/)
- ↑ 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/)