---
title: Which of the following best characterises the fern's mournful song r… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Flax: the… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following best characterises the fern's mournful song regarding the flax's continuing development? Exam question 3 of lesson 827 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Flax: the fir-tree burns, and the flax becomes linen and then paper» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the depen
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/827-pg27200-part38/e3/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Flax: the…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/827-pg27200-part38/) / e3

# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Flax: the fir-tree burns, and…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following best characterises the fern's mournful song regarding the flax's continuing development?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** best, fern, flax · **What happens:** follow, characteris, regard, continue, sing, develop · **To what, where:** mournful song

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 827 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Flax: the fir-tree burns, and the flax becomes linen and then paper» 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/827-pg27200-part38/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:827-pg27200-part38:e3:1
# text = Which of the following best characterises the fern's mournful song regarding the flax's continuing development?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	obj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	case	_	_
5	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	nsubj	_	_
6	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	fern	fern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	mournful	mournful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
12	regarding	regard	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	flax	flax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	's	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	continuing	continue	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	amod	_	_
17	development	development	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present | the best | the fern's mournful song |  |  |  | regard the flax's continuing development | tree rules |
| 3 | **regard** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **continue** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **sing** |  | the fern |  |  |  |  | regard the flax's continuing development | nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent regard=obl |
| 6 | **develop** |  | the flax |  |  |  |  |  | nom development «act 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 -->
a declaration that the flax was going to be happy forever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:827-pg27200-part38:e3:o1:1
# text = a declaration that the flax was going to be happy forever
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	declaration	declaration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	flax	flax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	acl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	cop	_	_
10	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
11	forever	forever	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past · progressive | the flax | a declaration *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location declaration=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | the flax *not said here* |  |  |  |  | forever, happy *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a declaration that the song is ended and must never be sung again

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:827-pg27200-part38:e3:o2:1
# text = a declaration that the song is ended and must never be sung again
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	declaration	declaration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	acl	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	ended	ended	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	sung	sing	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
13	again	again	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a declaration |  |  |  |  | ended *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **sing** *speech: express* | must · passive | a declaration *not said here* |  |  |  | again |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V» |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a cheerful tune about the spring

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:827-pg27200-part38:e3:o3:1
# text = a cheerful tune about the spring
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	cheerful	cheerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	tune	tune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a declaration that the song is ended

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:827-pg27200-part38:e3:o4:1
# text = a declaration that the song is ended
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	declaration	declaration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	acl	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	ended	end	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end** | present · passive |  | a declaration |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Flax: the…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/827-pg27200-part38/e2/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Flax: the…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/827-pg27200-part38/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Flax: the fir-tree burns, and the flax becomes linen and then paper](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/827-pg27200-part38/)