---
title: What is the principal purpose of the sparrows' discourse concerning… — Andersen's Tales, The Moon: the Moon w… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is the principal purpose of the sparrows' discourse concerning the rose-bush? Exam question 4 of lesson 909 «Andersen's Tales, The Moon: the Moon watches a prisoner leave his cell, then a little girl says her prayers» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pr
---

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# Exam question 4 · Andersen's Tales, The Moon: the Moon watches a prisoner le…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What is the principal purpose of the sparrows' discourse concerning the rose-bush?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** principal purpose, discourse, sparrows · **What happens:** be, concern, purpose, discourse · **To what, where:** rose bush

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 909 «Andersen's Tales, The Moon: the Moon watches a prisoner leave his cell, then a little girl says her prayers» 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/909-pg27200-part120/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:909-pg27200-part120:e4:1
# text = What is the principal purpose of the sparrows' discourse concerning the rose-bush?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	'	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	discourse	discourse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	rose	rose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the principal purpose of the sparrows's discourse |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **concern** | gerund | the sparrows's discourse *not said here* | the rose bush |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus bush=Experiencer |
| 3 | **purpose** |  | the sparrows's discourse |  |  |  |  |  | nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |
| 4 | **discourse** |  | the sparrows |  |  |  |  |  | nom discourse «communication transitive»: 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 hide it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:909-pg27200-part120:e4:o1:1
# text = to hide it
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hide	hide	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | to-infinitive |  | it |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to praise it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:909-pg27200-part120:e4:o2:1
# text = to praise it
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	praise	praise	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **praise** | to-infinitive |  | it |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to predict its removal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:909-pg27200-part120:e4:o3:1
# text = to predict its removal
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	predict	predict	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	removal	removal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **predict** | to-infinitive |  | its removal |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot removal=Topic |
| 2 | **remove** |  | its *= it* |  |  |  |  |  | nom removal «act transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to describe its colour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:909-pg27200-part120:e4:o4:1
# text = to describe its colour
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	describe	describe	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | to-infinitive |  | its colour |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent colour=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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- ← previous: [Andersen's Tales, The Moon: the Moon w…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/909-pg27200-part120/e3/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Sparrow-Mo…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/910-pg27200-part121/t1/)
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