---
title: Fr, what were the wild geese actually doing with their big talk? — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckl… · tree and pragmatics
description: Fr, what were the wild geese actually doing with their big talk? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 1012 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckling, part 223: the ugly duckling hatches, is scorned, and flees to a moor» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the qu
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckling, part 223: the u…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fr, what were the wild geese actually doing with their big talk?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** wild geese, geese · **What happens:** do, talk · **To what, where:** Fr

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 1012 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckling, part 223: the ugly duckling hatches, is scorned, and flees to a moor» 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/1012-pg27200-part223/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1012-pg27200-part223:t9:1
# text = Fr, what were the wild geese actually doing with their big talk?
1	Fr	fr	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	geese	goose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	conj	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	talk	talk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past · progressive | the wild geese | Fr |  |  |  | with geese's big talk; actually *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 2 | **talk** |  | geese *= goose* |  |  |  |  |  | nom talk «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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
trying to get him a wife

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1012-pg27200-part223:t9:o1:1
# text = trying to get him a wife
1	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **get** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | a wife | him *= he* |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary wife=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to take him to the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1012-pg27200-part223:t9:o2:1
# text = to take him to the sea
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | to-infinitive |  | him *= he* |  | the sea |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to sea=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to take him away to live with the flock and find him a mate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1012-pg27200-part223:t9:o3:1
# text = to take him away to live with the flock and find him a mate
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	flock	flock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	find	find	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take away** | to-infinitive |  | him *= he* |  |  |  | away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 2 | **live** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | with the flock | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with flock=Location |
| 3 | **find** | infinitive |  | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent he=Theme mate=Attribute |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to find him a good wife among the wild geese flock

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1012-pg27200-part223:t9:o4:1
# text = to find him a good wife among the wild geese flock
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	find	find	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	among	among	ADP	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	geese	goose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	flock	flock	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | to-infinitive |  | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent he=Theme wife=Attribute |
| 2 | **flock** | present | the wild geese |  |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckl…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1012-pg27200-part223/t8/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckl…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1012-pg27200-part223/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Ugly Duckling, part 223: the ugly duckling hatches, is scorned, and flees to a moor](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1012-pg27200-part223/)