---
title: Why'd the elder bro say he couldn't go past the graveyard? — Grimm's Fairy Tales, Oh, If I Could Bu… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why'd the elder bro say he couldn't go past the graveyard? Test 12 · ★ of lesson 102 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, Oh, If I Could But Shiver!, part 1: a simple boy is sent to learn shivering and throws a ghost down the stairs» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragma
---

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# Test 12 · ★ · Grimm's Fairy Tales, Oh, If I Could But Shiver!, part 1: a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why'd the elder bro say he couldn't go past the graveyard?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** elder bro, bro · **What happens:** say, not go · **To what, where:** graveyard · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 102 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, Oh, If I Could But Shiver!, part 1: a simple boy is sent to learn shivering and throws a ghost down the stairs» 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/102-pg11027-part5/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:102-pg11027-part5:t12:1
# text = Why'd the elder bro say he couldn't go past the graveyard?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	elder	elder	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	bro	bro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	past	past	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	graveyard	graveyard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | would | the elder bro |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **go** | could | bro |  |  | the graveyard |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme past graveyard=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
cos the graves are full of ghosts at night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:102-pg11027-part5:t12:o1:1
# text = cos the graves are full of ghosts at night
1	cos	cos	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	compound	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	graves	grave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	ghosts	ghost	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cos** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | the cos graves |  |  |  | night | of ghosts; full *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
cos he was scared

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:102-pg11027-part5:t12:o2:1
# text = cos he was scared
1	cos	cos	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	scared	scared	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | he | cos *not said here* |  |  |  | scared *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
cos he was lazy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:102-pg11027-part5:t12:o3:1
# text = cos he was lazy
1	cos	cos	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	lazy	lazy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | he | cos *not said here* |  |  |  | lazy *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
cos he heard the dead sexton calling out for him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:102-pg11027-part5:t12:o4:1
# text = cos he heard the dead sexton calling out for him
1	cos	cos	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	sexton	sexton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	calling	call	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	xcomp	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | cos | the dead sexton |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **call out** *speech: assert* | gerund | the dead sexton *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for cos | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for he=Recipient |

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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: [Grimm's Fairy Tales, Oh, If I Could Bu…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/102-pg11027-part5/t11/)
- next →: [Grimm's Fairy Tales, Oh, If I Could Bu…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/102-pg11027-part5/t13/)
- ↑ back to [Grimm's Fairy Tales, Oh, If I Could But Shiver!, part 1: a simple boy is sent to learn shivering and throws a ghost down the stairs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/102-pg11027-part5/)