---
title: What was the principal commodity sold by the German clerks in Copenh… — Andersen's Tales, The Old Bachelor's N… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the principal commodity sold by the German clerks in Copenhagen? Exam question 3 of lesson 915 «Andersen's Tales, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, part 126: a silly pretend play, then the strange street of pepper clerks» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and
---

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# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, part 126: a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the principal commodity sold by the German clerks in Copenhagen?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be, sell · **To what, where:** principal commodity, Copenhagen

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 915 «Andersen's Tales, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, part 126: a silly pretend play, then the strange street of pepper clerks» 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/915-pg27200-part126/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:915-pg27200-part126:e3:1
# text = What was the principal commodity sold by the German clerks in Copenhagen?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	commodity	commodity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	sold	sell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	clerks	clerk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Copenhagen	Copenhagen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the principal commodity |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sell** | participle |  | the principal commodity *not said here* |  | Copenhagen |  | by the German clerks | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=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 -->
pepper and German beer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:915-pg27200-part126:e3:o1:1
# text = pepper and German beer
1	pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
3	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	beer	beer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
spices

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:915-pg27200-part126:e3:o2:1
# text = spices
1	spices	spice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
pepper

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:915-pg27200-part126:e3:o3:1
# text = pepper
1	pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
pepper and other spices from the Indies

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:915-pg27200-part126:e3:o4:1
# text = pepper and other spices from the Indies
1	pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
3	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	spices	spice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Indies	Indy	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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 Old Bachelor's N…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/915-pg27200-part126/e2/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Old Bachelor's N…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/915-pg27200-part126/e4/)
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