---
title: Which phrase from the passage most clearly expresses the boy's wish… — Andersen's Tales, The Metal Pig: the b… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which phrase from the passage most clearly expresses the boy's wish to die? Exam question 3 of lesson 899 «Andersen's Tales, The Metal Pig: the boy sneaks out to the Metal Pig, Bellissima is taken by police, and the boy starts drawing» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependenc
---

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# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, The Metal Pig: the boy sneaks out to the…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which phrase from the passage most clearly expresses the boy's wish to die?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** phrase, boy · **What happens:** express, die, wish · **To what, where:** wish

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 899 «Andersen's Tales, The Metal Pig: the boy sneaks out to the Metal Pig, Bellissima is taken by police, and the boy starts drawing» 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/899-pg27200-part110/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:899-pg27200-part110:e3:1
# text = Which phrase from the passage most clearly expresses the boy's wish to die?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	phrase	phrase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	clearly	clearly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	expresses	express	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **express** | present | which phrase from the passage | the boy's wish |  |  |  | clearly *property* | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wish=Theme |
| 2 | **die** | to-infinitive | which phrase from the passage *not said here* | the boy's wish *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 3 | **wish** |  | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | nom wish «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 -->
I long to be with the pig

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:899-pg27200-part110:e3:o1:1
# text = I long to be with the pig
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	long	long	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	pig	pig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **long** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the pig | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Let me die

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:899-pg27200-part110:e3:o2:1
# text = Let me die
1	Let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | imperative | you *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **die** | infinitive | me *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I want to die

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:899-pg27200-part110:e3:o3:1
# text = I want to die
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **die** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"I would gladly be killed"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:899-pg27200-part110:e3:o4:1
# text = "I would gladly be killed"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	gladly	gladly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** *in a quote* | would · passive |  | I |  |  |  | gladly *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

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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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