---
title: What prohibition was imposed upon the clerks as a condition of their… — Andersen's Tales, The Old Bachelor's N… · tree and pragmatics
description: What prohibition was imposed upon the clerks as a condition of their employment? Exam question 4 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 t
---

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# Exam question 4 · Andersen's Tales, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, part 126: a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What prohibition was imposed upon the clerks as a condition of their employment?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** clerks · **What happens:** impose, condition, employ · **To what, where:** prohibition, employment

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 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/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:915-pg27200-part126:e4:1
# text = What prohibition was imposed upon the clerks as a condition of their employment?
1	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	prohibition	prohibition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	imposed	impose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	clerks	clerk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	employment	employment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **impose** | past · passive |  | what prohibition |  |  |  | upon the clerks; as a condition of clerks's employment | vn enforce-63 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **condition** |  |  | clerks's employment |  |  |  |  | nom condition «state transitive»: of=patient |
| 3 | **employ** |  | clerks *= clerk* |  |  |  |  |  | nom employment «state 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 {#o1}

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

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:915-pg27200-part126:e4:o1:1
# text = smoking
1	smoking	smoking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

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

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:915-pg27200-part126:e4:o2:1
# text = wives
1	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

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

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:915-pg27200-part126:e4:o3:1
# text = dancing
1	dancing	dancing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

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

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:915-pg27200-part126:e4:o4:1
# text = marriage
1	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/915-pg27200-part126/e3/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, Old Anthony, part 12…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/916-pg27200-part127/t1/)
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