---
title: Which of the following was the cause of the death of the little sing… — Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following was the cause of the death of the little singing-bird? Exam question 1 of lesson 943 «Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, part 1: a singing-bird dies, and a porter's boy saves a nursery from fire» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragm
---

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# Exam question 1 · Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, part 1: a singing-bird…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following was the cause of the death of the little singing-bird?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** little singing bird · **What happens:** follow, be, die

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 943 «Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, part 1: a singing-bird dies, and a porter's boy saves a nursery from fire» 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/943-pg27200-part154/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:943-pg27200-part154:e1:1
# text = Which of the following was the cause of the death of the little singing-bird?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	case	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
13	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
14	singing	singing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | of the cause; of the death of the little singing bird | tree rules |
| 3 | **die** |  | the little singing bird |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: of=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 -->
the blow delivered by the Portuguese duck while the cock watched from the wall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:943-pg27200-part154:e1:o1:1
# text = the blow delivered by the Portuguese duck while the cock watched from the wall
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
3	delivered	deliver	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Portuguese	Portuguese	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	_
11	watched	watch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deliver** | participle |  | the blow *not said here* |  |  |  | by the Portuguese duck | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **watch** | past | the blow |  |  | the wall |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the blow delivered by the Portuguese duck's wing in the yard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:943-pg27200-part154:e1:o2:1
# text = the blow delivered by the Portuguese duck's wing in the yard
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	delivered	deliver	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Portuguese	portuguese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	wing	wing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deliver** | participle |  | the blow *not said here* |  |  |  | by the Portuguese duck's wing; in the yard | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the blow delivered by the Portuguese duck

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:943-pg27200-part154:e1:o3:1
# text = the blow delivered by the Portuguese duck
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	delivered	deliver	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Portuguese	portuguese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deliver** | participle |  | the blow *not said here* |  |  |  | by the Portuguese duck | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the peck delivered by the old white goose

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:943-pg27200-part154:e1:o4:1
# text = the peck delivered by the old white goose
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	peck	peck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	delivered	deliver	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	goose	goose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deliver** | participle |  | the peck *not said here* |  |  |  | by the old white goose | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, pa…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/943-pg27200-part154/t13/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, pa…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/943-pg27200-part154/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, part 1: a singing-bird dies, and a porter's boy saves a nursery from fire](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/943-pg27200-part154/)