---
title: Were the two blokes up to something dodgy? — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Silver Shi… · tree and pragmatics
description: Were the two blokes up to something dodgy? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 1006 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Silver Shilling, part 217: John buries his father and sets out into the world» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; M
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Silver Shilling, part 217: Joh…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Were the two blokes up to something dodgy?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** two blokes · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 1006 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Silver Shilling, part 217: John buries his father and sets out into the world» 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/1006-pg27200-part217/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1006-pg27200-part217:t9:1
# text = Were the two blokes up to something dodgy?
1	Were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	blokes	bloke	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nsubj	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	nmod	_	_
8	dodgy	dodgy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | the two blokes to something |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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 -->
Nah, they were just praying

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1006-pg27200-part217:t9:o1:1
# text = Nah, they were just praying
1	Nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	praying	pray	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pray** | past · progressive | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, they fancied robbing John

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1006-pg27200-part217:t9:o2:1
# text = Yeah, they fancied robbing John
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	fancied	fancy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	robbing	rob	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fancy** | past | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **rob** | gerund | they *not said here* | John |  |  |  |  | vn cheat-10.6.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent john=Source |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, they wanted money

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1006-pg27200-part217:t9:o3:1
# text = Yeah, they wanted money
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | they | money |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot money=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, they wanted to chuck the body out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1006-pg27200-part217:t9:o4:1
# text = Yeah, they wanted to chuck the body out
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	chuck	chuck	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	out	out	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **chuck out** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | they *not said here* | the body |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Theme |

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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 Fairy Tales, The Silver Shi…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1006-pg27200-part217/t8/)
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