---
title: What was the precise relationship of the elderly dowager to the youn… — Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the precise relationship of the elderly dowager to the youngest sister? Exam question 2 of lesson 877 «Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the
---

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# Exam question 2 · Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid save…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the precise relationship of the elderly dowager to the youngest sister?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** precise relationship

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 877 «Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm» 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/877-pg27200-part88/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:e2:1
# text = What was the precise relationship of the elderly dowager to the youngest sister?
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	precise	precise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	relationship	relationship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	elderly	elderly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	dowager	dowager	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	13	amod	_	_
13	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the precise relationship |  |  |  | of the elderly dowager to the youngest sister | 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her aunt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:e2:o1:1
# text = Her aunt
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	aunt	aunt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was her grandfather's wife

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:e2:o2:1
# text = She was her grandfather's wife
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	grandfather	grandfather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | She |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was her grandmother

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:e2:o3:1
# text = She was her grandmother
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | She | her grandmother |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was her mother's sister

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:e2:o4:1
# text = She was her mother's sister
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | She | her mother's sister |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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: [Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/e1/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/)