---
title: No cap, what was the old raven doing on the fence? — Andersen's Tales, The Story of the Yea… · tree and pragmatics
description: No cap, what was the old raven doing on the fence? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 1031 «Andersen's Tales, The Story of the Year: sparrows, Winter and the two children of Spring» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's cho
---

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# Test 2 · ★ · Andersen's Tales, The Story of the Year: sparrows, Winter…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No cap, what was the old raven doing on the fence?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cap, old raven · **What happens:** be, do · **To what, where:** old raven, fence

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 1031 «Andersen's Tales, The Story of the Year: sparrows, Winter and the two children of Spring» 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/1031-pg27200-part242/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1031-pg27200-part242:t2:1
# text = No cap, what was the old raven doing on the fence?
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	cap	cap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
9	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	fence	fence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | no cap | the old raven |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | gerund | the old raven *not said here* |  |  | the fence |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=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 -->
Singing loudly to the morning sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1031-pg27200-part242:t2:o1:1
# text = Singing loudly to the morning sun
1	Singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	loudly	loudly	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund |  |  | the morning sun |  |  | loudly *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to sun=Recipient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dropping knowledge on the sparrows

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1031-pg27200-part242:t2:o2:1
# text = Dropping knowledge on the sparrows
1	Dropping	drop	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drop** | gerund |  | knowledge |  | the sparrows |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent knowledge=Theme on sparrow=Destination |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Teaching the young sparrows how to build their nests in the high trees

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1031-pg27200-part242:t2:o3:1
# text = Teaching the young sparrows how to build their nests in the high trees
1	Teaching	teach	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	csubj	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
5	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	nests	nest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **teach** *speech: other* | gerund |  | the young sparrows |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent sparrow=Recipient |
| 2 | **build** | to-infinitive | Teaching | sparrows's nests |  | the high trees |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset nest=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Scolding the sparrows for noise

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1031-pg27200-part242:t2:o4:1
# text = Scolding the sparrows for noise
1	Scolding	scold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scold** | gerund |  | the sparrows |  |  |  | for noise | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent sparrow=Theme for noise=Attribute |

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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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