---
title: Under what condition, according to the grandmother, might the mermai… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mer… · tree and pragmatics
description: Under what condition, according to the grandmother, might the mermaid acquire an immortal soul? Exam question 3 of lesson 878 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 89: the mermaid watches the prince's palace and dreams of a soul» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dep
---

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# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 89: the m…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Under what condition, according to the grandmother, might the mermaid acquire an immortal soul?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** mermaid · **What happens:** accord, acquire · **To what, where:** immortal soul, condition

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 878 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 89: the mermaid watches the prince's palace and dreams of a soul» 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/878-pg27200-part89/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:878-pg27200-part89:e3:1
# text = Under what condition, according to the grandmother, might the mermaid acquire an immortal soul?
1	Under	under	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
3	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	case	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	fixed	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
10	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	acquire	acquire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
14	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	immortal	immortal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **acquire** | might | the mermaid | a immortal soul |  | condition accord the grandmother |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent soul=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
if a man loved her above his parents

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:878-pg27200-part89:e3:o1:1
# text = if a man loved her above his parents
1	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	loved	love	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	above	above	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **love** | past | a man | her *= she* |  |  |  | above man's parents | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
if a prince kissed her on the shore

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:878-pg27200-part89:e3:o2:1
# text = if a prince kissed her on the shore
1	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	kissed	kiss	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kiss** | past | a prince | her *= she* |  | the shore |  |  | vn marry-36.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Co-Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
if a man loved her more than his mother, father, and all his kin

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:878-pg27200-part89:e3:o3:1
# text = if a man loved her more than his mother, father, and all his kin
1	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	loved	love	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	16	det:predet	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	kin	kin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **love** | past | a man | her *= she* |  |  |  | man's kin *obl* | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
when a man promises to marry her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:878-pg27200-part89:e3:o4:1
# text = when a man promises to marry her
1	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	promises	promise	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **promise** *speech: promise* | present | a man |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **marry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a man *not said here* | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |

<!-- 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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- ← previous: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mer…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/878-pg27200-part89/e2/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mer…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/878-pg27200-part89/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 89: the mermaid watches the prince's palace and dreams of a soul](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/878-pg27200-part89/)