---
title: Why were the lads all staring at their wine-cups? — Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: F… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why were the lads all staring at their wine-cups? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 1043 «Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: Fionn offers to defend Tara against Aillen» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wr
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: Fionn offers to defen…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why were the lads all staring at their wine-cups?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** lads · **What happens:** stare

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This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 1043 «Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: Fionn offers to defend Tara against Aillen» 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/1043-pg2892-part11/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1043-pg2892-part11:t4:1
# text = Why were the lads all staring at their wine-cups?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	lads	lad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	all	all	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	staring	stare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
9	wine	wine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	cups	cup	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stare** | past · progressive | the lads |  |  |  |  | at lads's wine cups; all *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at cup=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They feared Aillen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1043-pg2892-part11:t4:o1:1
# text = They feared Aillen
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Aillen	Aillen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fear** | past | They | Aillen |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer aillen=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were afraid

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1043-pg2892-part11:t4:o2:1
# text = They were afraid
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were scared

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1043-pg2892-part11:t4:o3:1
# text = They were scared
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	scared	scared	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were scared to say yes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1043-pg2892-part11:t4:o4:1
# text = They were scared to say yes
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	scared	scared	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | They |  |  |  |  | scared *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent yes=Topic |

<!-- 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.

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- ← previous: [Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: F…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1043-pg2892-part11/t3/)
- next →: [Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: F…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1043-pg2892-part11/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: Fionn offers to defend Tara against Aillen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1043-pg2892-part11/)