---
title: To whom were the birds sold, and at what price? — Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fort… · tree and pragmatics
description: To whom were the birds sold, and at what price? Exam question 4 of lesson 841 «Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the clerk, now a lark, is bought and placed in a lady's cage» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and o
---

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# Exam question 4 · Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the cl…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To whom were the birds sold, and at what price?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be, sell · **To what, where:** birds

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 841 «Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the clerk, now a lark, is bought and placed in a lady's cage» 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/841-pg27200-part52/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e4:1
# text = To whom were the birds sold, and at what price?
1	To	to	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	obl	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	sold	sell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	parataxis	_	_
11	price	price	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the birds |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sell** | participle · passive |  | the birds |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to a sailor, for ninepence and a biscuit

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e4:o1:1
# text = to a sailor, for ninepence and a biscuit
1	to	to	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sailor	sailor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	ninepence	ninepence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	biscuit	biscuit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to two schoolboys who lived near the harbour, for eightpence in coins

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e4:o2:1
# text = to two schoolboys who lived near the harbour, for eightpence in coins
1	to	to	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	schoolboys	schoolboy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	near	near	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	harbour	harbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	eightpence	eightpence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	coins	coin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past | two schoolboys |  |  | the harbour |  | for eightpence in coins | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme near harbour=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a farmer, for fivepence

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e4:o3:1
# text = a farmer, for fivepence
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	fivepence	fivepence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
two schoolboys, for eightpence

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e4:o4:1
# text = two schoolboys, for eightpence
1	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	schoolboys	schoolboy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	eightpence	eightpence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .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 Tales, The Goloshes of Fort…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/841-pg27200-part52/e3/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Goloshes o…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/842-pg27200-part53/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the clerk, now a lark, is bought and placed in a lady's cage](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/841-pg27200-part52/)