--- title: Which description most accurately characterises the mermaid's physic… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mer… · tree and pragmatics description: Which description most accurately characterises the mermaid's physical state upon her return to the palace? Exam question 4 of lesson 879 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 90: the mermaid sneaks off to the sea witch and pays a terrible price» of the books course of Mova's primary sch --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/879-pg27200-part90/e4/) [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 Little Mer…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/879-pg27200-part90/) / e4 # Exam question 4 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 90: the m… Which description most accurately characterises the mermaid's physical state upon her return to the palace? **Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** description · **What happens:** characteris, return · **To what, where:** physical state This is exam question 4 of lesson 879 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 90: the mermaid sneaks off to the sea witch and pays a terrible price» 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/879-pg27200-part90/#e4). ## The question {#question} ```conllu # sent_id = question:books:879-pg27200-part90:e4:1 # text = Which description most accurately characterises the mermaid's physical state upon her return to the palace? 1 Which which DET WDT PronType=Int 2 det _ _ 2 description description NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 3 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 4 advmod _ _ 4 accurately accurately ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 5 characterises characteris VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 mermaid mermaid NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 8 's 's PART POS _ 7 case _ _ 9 physical physical ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 state state NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 11 upon upon ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 13 return return NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 14 to to ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 palace palace NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ? ? PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **characteris** | present | which description | the mermaid's physical state | | | | upon description's return to the palace; accurately *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **return** | | description | | | | | to the palace | nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent to=obl | 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} She was dumb and shall never sing again ```conllu # sent_id = question:books:879-pg27200-part90:e4:o1:1 # text = She was dumb and shall never sing again 1 She she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 cop _ _ 3 dumb dumb ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 4 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 5 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 6 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 7 advmod _ _ 7 sing sing VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ _ 8 again again ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | She | | | | | dumb *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **not** **sing** *speech: express* | shall | She *not said here* | | | | again | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ### Option 2 {#o2} She was weak and could not speak ```conllu # sent_id = question:books:879-pg27200-part90:e4:o2:1 # text = She was weak and could not speak 1 She she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 cop _ _ 3 weak weak ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 4 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 5 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 6 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 7 advmod _ _ 7 speak speak VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | She | | | | | weak *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | could | She *not said here* | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ### Option 3 {#o3} She was mute ```conllu # sent_id = question:books:879-pg27200-part90:e4:o3:1 # text = She was mute 1 She she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 cop _ _ 3 mute mute ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | She | | | | | mute *property* | tree rules | ### Option 4 {#o4} She had lost her voice and her tail ```conllu # sent_id = question:books:879-pg27200-part90:e4:o4:1 # text = She had lost her voice and her tail 1 She she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 lost lose VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 4 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 5 nmod:poss _ _ 5 voice voice NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 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 tail tail NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 conj _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **lose** | past · perfect | She | her voice and her tail | | | | | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent voice=Eventuality | **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. - ← previous: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mer…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/879-pg27200-part90/e3/) - next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mer…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/880-pg27200-part91/t1/) - ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 90: the mermaid sneaks off to the sea witch and pays a terrible price](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/879-pg27200-part90/)