---
title: Why does the book say Alice's joke about falling off the top of the… — Alice in Wonderland, chapter I, part 1… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does the book say Alice's joke about falling off the top of the house was "very likely true"? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 1 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter I, part 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole (the fall)» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole/t3/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Alice in Wonderland, chapter I, part 1…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole/) / t3

# Test 3 · ★ · Alice in Wonderland, chapter I, part 1: Down the Rabbit-Ho…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does the book say Alice's joke about falling off the top of the house was "very likely true"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** book, joke, Alice · **What happens:** say, fall off, be, joke · **To what, where:** top · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 1 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter I, part 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole (the fall)» of the books course of Mova's primary school. 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/1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole:t3:1
# text = Why does the book say Alice's joke about falling off the top of the house was "very likely true"?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	Alice	Alice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
9	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
10	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
11	off	off	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
18	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	very	very	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	likely	likely	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | the book |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **fall off** | gerund | Alice's joke *not said here* | the top of the house |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient top=Extent |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | past | Alice's joke |  |  |  |  | likely, true *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **joke** |  | Alice |  |  |  |  |  | nom joke «communication intransitive»: 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 -->
Because the top of the house was very, very high in the air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole:t3:o1:1
# text = Because the top of the house was very, very high in the air
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
8	very	very	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
10	very	very	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the top of the house |  |  | the air |  | high *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because she would be too frightened to speak at all later

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole:t3:o2:1
# text = Because she would be too frightened to speak at all later
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	frightened	frightened	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	csubj	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	obl	_	_
11	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | she |  |  |  |  | frightened *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  |  |  | all |  | late *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
After such a fall she would be too hurt to say anything

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole:t3:o3:1
# text = After such a fall she would be too hurt to say anything
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	4	det:predet	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	fall	fall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
8	too	too	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	hurt	hurt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	csubj	_	_
12	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | she |  |  |  | after such fall | hurt *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  | anything |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent anything=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was too brave

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole:t3:o4:1
# text = She was too brave
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | She |  |  |  |  | brave *property* | tree rules |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter I, part 1…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole/t2/)
- next →: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter I, part 1…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Alice in Wonderland, chapter I, part 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole (the fall)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole/)