---
title: Which reason does the text give for the goblin's preference that his… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Elf Hill:… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which reason does the text give for the goblin's preference that his sons should not take the vanishing accomplishment? Exam question 4 of lesson 823 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Elf Hill: the Norwegian goblin visits, and the seven daughters show their skills» of the books course of Mova's primary s
---

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# Exam question 4 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Elf Hill: the Norwegian goblin…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which reason does the text give for the goblin's preference that his sons should not take the vanishing accomplishment?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** reason, text, sons, goblin · **What happens:** do, give, not take, vanish, prefer · **To what, where:** vanishing accomplishment

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 823 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Elf Hill: the Norwegian goblin visits, and the seven daughters show their skills» 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/823-pg27200-part34/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:823-pg27200-part34:e4:1
# text = Which reason does the text give for the goblin's preference that his sons should not take the vanishing accomplishment?
1	Which	which	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	goblin	goblin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	preference	preference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
15	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	acl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	vanishing	vanish	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	amod	_	_
20	accomplishment	accomplishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present | which reason |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **give** | present | the text |  |  |  |  | for the goblin's preference | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent for preference=Asset |
| 3 | **not** **take** | should | text's sons | the vanishing accomplishment |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent accomplishment=Theme |
| 4 | **vanish** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **prefer** |  | the goblin |  |  |  |  |  | nom preference «feeling 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His wife should not have such an accomplishment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:823-pg27200-part34:e4:o1:1
# text = His wife should not have such an accomplishment
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	8	det:predet	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	accomplishment	accomplishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **have** | should | His wife | such accomplishment |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent accomplishment=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His sons are too young to learn

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:823-pg27200-part34:e4:o2:1
# text = His sons are too young to learn
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | His sons |  |  |  |  | young *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **learn** | to-infinitive | His sons *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sons must not vanish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:823-pg27200-part34:e4:o3:1
# text = Sons must not vanish
1	Sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	vanish	vanish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **vanish** | must | Sons |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He thinks boys should learn the harp only

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:823-pg27200-part34:e4:o4:1
# text = He thinks boys should learn the harp only
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	thinks	think	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	harp	harp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | present | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **learn** | should | boys | the harp |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harp=Topic |

<!-- 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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