---
title: What reason did the director give for presenting a merry piece after… — Picture-Book Without Pictures, Pulcine… · tree and pragmatics
description: What reason did the director give for presenting a merry piece after Columbine's death? Exam question 2 of lesson 905 «Picture-Book Without Pictures, Pulcinella, part 2: the clown mourns Columbine» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question 
---

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# Exam question 2 · Picture-Book Without Pictures, Pulcinella, part 2: the clo…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What reason did the director give for presenting a merry piece after Columbine's death?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** director, Columbine · **What happens:** give, present, die · **To what, where:** merry piece

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 905 «Picture-Book Without Pictures, Pulcinella, part 2: the clown mourns Columbine» 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/905-pg27200-part116/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:905-pg27200-part116:e2:1
# text = What reason did the director give for presenting a merry piece after Columbine's death?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obl	_	_
2	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	director	director	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	presenting	present	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	merry	merry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	after	after	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	Columbine	Columbine	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past · do-support | the director |  |  |  |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **present** | gerund | the director *not said here* | a merry piece |  |  | after Columbine's death |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent piece=Theme |
| 3 | **die** |  | Columbine |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to honour the memory of the Turk and his pipe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:905-pg27200-part116:e2:o1:1
# text = to honour the memory of the Turk and his pipe
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	honour	honour	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Turk	Turk	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	pipe	pipe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **honour** | to-infinitive |  | the memory of the Turk and his pipe |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to avoid a riot of angry spectators and the loss of the theatre

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:905-pg27200-part116:e2:o2:1
# text = to avoid a riot of angry spectators and the loss of the theatre
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	avoid	avoid	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	riot	riot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	spectators	spectator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	theatre	theatre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **avoid** | to-infinitive |  | a riot of angry spectators and the loss of the theatre |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent riot=Location |
| 2 | **riot** |  | angry spectators and the loss of the theatre |  |  |  |  |  | nom riot «act intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
because the theatre was empty

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:905-pg27200-part116:e2:o3:1
# text = because the theatre was empty
1	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	theatre	theatre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the theatre |  |  |  |  | empty *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to spare the public from grief

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:905-pg27200-part116:e2:o4:1
# text = to spare the public from grief
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	spare	spare	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	public	public	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	grief	grief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spare** | to-infinitive |  | the public |  | grief |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent public=Asset |

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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: [Picture-Book Without Pictures, Pulcine…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/905-pg27200-part116/e1/)
- next →: [Picture-Book Without Pictures, Pulcine…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/905-pg27200-part116/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Picture-Book Without Pictures, Pulcinella, part 2: the clown mourns Columbine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/905-pg27200-part116/)