---
title: Which of the following most accurately describes the principal diffi… — Andersen's tales, The Marble Psyche, p… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following most accurately describes the principal difficulty of the young sculptor prior to the events of this passage? Exam question 1 of lesson 952 «Andersen's tales, The Marble Psyche, part 163: a poor sculptor in Rome falls in love with a noble lady and carves her in marble» of the 
---

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# Exam question 1 · Andersen's tales, The Marble Psyche, part 163: a poor scul…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following most accurately describes the principal difficulty of the young sculptor prior to the events of this passage?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** follow, describe · **To what, where:** principal difficulty

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 952 «Andersen's tales, The Marble Psyche, part 163: a poor sculptor in Rome falls in love with a noble lady and carves her in marble» 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/952-pg27200-part163/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:952-pg27200-part163:e1:1
# text = Which of the following most accurately describes the principal difficulty of the young sculptor prior to the events of this passage?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	6	advmod	_	_
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	describes	describe	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	difficulty	difficulty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	sculptor	sculptor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
15	prior	prior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	18	case	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	fixed	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
21	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	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 | **describe** | present |  | the principal difficulty of the young sculptor |  |  |  | prior the events of this passage; accurately *property* | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent difficulty=Theme |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He habitually destroyed his own unfinished clay work

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:952-pg27200-part163:e1:o1:1
# text = He habitually destroyed his own unfinished clay work
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	habitually	habitually	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	destroyed	destroy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
5	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
6	unfinished	unfinished	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **destroy** | past | He | his own clay work |  |  |  | habitually *property* | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Patient |
| 2 | **work** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He often sold his clay figures before they were ready

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:952-pg27200-part163:e1:o2:1
# text = He often sold his clay figures before they were ready
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	often	often	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sell** | past | He | his clay figures |  |  |  | often *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent figure=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | figures *= figure* |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **figure** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom figure «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He never finished any of his statues

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:952-pg27200-part163:e1:o3:1
# text = He never finished any of his statues
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	finished	finish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	statues	statue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **finish** | past | He | any |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector any=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He always sold work too cheaply

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:952-pg27200-part163:e1:o4:1
# text = He always sold work too cheaply
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	cheaply	cheaply	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sell** | past | He | work |  |  |  | always, cheaply *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Theme |

<!-- 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 Marble Psyche, p…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/952-pg27200-part163/t12/)
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