---
title: Identify the principal reason for which Joseph and Mary undertook th… — The birth of Jesus · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which Joseph and Mary undertook the journey to Bethlehem. Exam question 1 of lesson 12 «The birth of Jesus» of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Exam question 1 · The birth of Jesus

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which Joseph and Mary undertook the journey to Bethlehem.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, Joseph · **What happens:** identify, undertake · **To what, where:** principal reason, journey, Bethlehem

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 12 «The birth of Jesus» of the religion ethics 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/religion-ethics/12-the-birth-of-jesus/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:12-the-birth-of-jesus:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which Joseph and Mary undertook the journey to Bethlehem.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obl	_	_
7	Joseph	Joseph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	Mary	Mary	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
10	undertook	undertake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	journey	journey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	Bethlehem	Bethlehem	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **undertake** | past | Joseph and Mary | the journey | Bethlehem |  |  | for the principal reason | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent journey=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 -->
A census decreed by the Roman authorities

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:12-the-birth-of-jesus:e1:o1:1
# text = A census decreed by the Roman authorities
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	census	census	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	decreed	decree	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	Roman	roman	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	authorities	authority	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:agent	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decree** | participle |  | a census *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Attendance at a festival in the Temple

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:12-the-birth-of-jesus:e1:o2:1
# text = Attendance at a festival in the Temple
1	Attendance	attendance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	festival	festival	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Temple	Temple	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Flight from the persecution of King Herod

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:12-the-birth-of-jesus:e1:o3:1
# text = Flight from the persecution of King Herod
1	Flight	flight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	persecution	persecution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	Herod	Herod	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **persecute** |  |  | King Herod |  |  |  |  | nom persecution «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Employment in the carpentry trade

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:12-the-birth-of-jesus:e1:o4:1
# text = Employment in the carpentry trade
1	Employment	employment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	carpentry	carpentry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	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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