---
title: To what cause may the girl's distress at the tan-yard be attributed? — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Happy Fami… · tree and pragmatics
description: To what cause may the girl's distress at the tan-yard be attributed? Exam question 1 of lesson 846 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Happy Family: two old snails find a wife for their adopted son» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of
---

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# Exam question 1 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Happy Family: two old snails f…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To what cause may the girl's distress at the tan-yard be attributed?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cause · **What happens:** distress, attribute

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 846 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Happy Family: two old snails find a wife for their adopted son» 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/846-pg27200-part57/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:846-pg27200-part57:e1:1
# text = To what cause may the girl's distress at the tan-yard be attributed?
1	To	to	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	distress	distress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	acl:relcl	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	tan	tan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	attributed	attribute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **distress** | may | cause |  |  |  |  | at the tan yard | tree rules |
| 2 | **attribute** | infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
The loss of her family and her home in the old tan-yard during the cold night

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:846-pg27200-part57:e1:o1:1
# text = The loss of her family and her home in the old tan-yard during the cold night
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
11	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
12	tan	tan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
15	during	during	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her inability to pay the trouser button that the boys demanded at the tan-yard gate

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:846-pg27200-part57:e1:o2:1
# text = Her inability to pay the trouser button that the boys demanded at the tan-yard gate
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	inability	inability	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	trouser	trouser	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	button	button	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	demanded	demand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
14	tan	tan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | to-infinitive | Her inability | the trouser button |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent button=Asset |
| 2 | **demand** *speech: request* | past | the boys |  |  | the yard gate |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her lack of a trouser button for admission

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:846-pg27200-part57:e1:o3:1
# text = Her lack of a trouser button for admission
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	lack	lack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	trouser	trouser	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	button	button	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	admission	admission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lack** |  | Her *= she* | a trouser button for admission |  |  |  |  | nom lack «state transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her missing shoe for entry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:846-pg27200-part57:e1:o4:1
# text = Her missing shoe for entry
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	missing	missing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	shoe	shoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	entry	entry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

<!-- 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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