---
title: In the context of the passage, what is the chief purpose of the moth… — Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mothe… · tree and pragmatics
description: In the context of the passage, what is the chief purpose of the mother's threat to tear up the flowers? Exam question 1 of lesson 996 «Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mother: Death carries off the child» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the qu
---

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# Exam question 1 · Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mother: Death carries off…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In the context of the passage, what is the chief purpose of the mother's threat to tear up the flowers?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** passage · **What happens:** be, tear up · **To what, where:** chief purpose, flowers

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 996 «Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mother: Death carries off the child» 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/996-pg27200-part207/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:996-pg27200-part207:e1:1
# text = In the context of the passage, what is the chief purpose of the mother's threat to tear up the flowers?
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	context	context	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	chief	chief	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	's	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	threat	threat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	tear	tear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl	_	_
20	up	up	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the passage and the chief purpose | the chief purpose |  |  |  | of the mother's threat | tree rules |
| 2 | **tear up** | to-infinitive | the passage and the chief purpose *not said here* | the flowers |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location flower=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To scare Death

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:996-pg27200-part207:e1:o1:1
# text = To scare Death
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	scare	scare	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Death	Death	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scare** | to-infinitive |  | Death |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus death=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To show Death her grief and anger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:996-pg27200-part207:e1:o2:1
# text = To show Death her grief and anger
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	show	show	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Death	Death	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	grief	grief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	anger	anger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | to-infinitive |  | Death's grief and anger | Death |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent death=Recipient grief=Topic |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To compel Death to return her child

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:996-pg27200-part207:e1:o3:1
# text = To compel Death to return her child
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	compel	compel	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **compel** | to-infinitive |  | Death |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent death=Patient clause=Result |
| 2 | **return** | to-infinitive |  | her child |  |  |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To free the flowers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:996-pg27200-part207:e1:o4:1
# text = To free the flowers
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	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 Story of a Mothe…, test 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/996-pg27200-part207/t14/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Story of a Mothe…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/996-pg27200-part207/e2/)
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