---
title: Who was sitting at the back, listening with all his ears? — Gods and Fighting Men, The Story of Mo… · tree and pragmatics
description: Who was sitting at the back, listening with all his ears? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 1068 «Gods and Fighting Men, The Story of Mongan, part 36: a hailstorm sends Mongan into Faery, where a feast and a tale begin» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the 
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Gods and Fighting Men, The Story of Mongan, part 36: a hai…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Who was sitting at the back, listening with all his ears?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** sit, listen · **To what, where:** back

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This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 1068 «Gods and Fighting Men, The Story of Mongan, part 36: a hailstorm sends Mongan into Faery, where a feast and a tale begin» 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/1068-pg2892-part36/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1068-pg2892-part36:t9:1
# text = Who was sitting at the back, listening with all his ears?
1	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	12	det:predet	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past · progressive |  |  |  | the back |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at back=Location |
| 2 | **listen** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with his ears | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fergus the bard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1068-pg2892-part36:t9:o1:1
# text = Fergus the bard
1	Fergus	Fergus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	bard	bard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old man at the back of the hall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1068-pg2892-part36:t9:o2:1
# text = The old man at the back of the hall
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hall	hall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cairid the story-teller

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1068-pg2892-part36:t9:o3:1
# text = Cairid the story-teller
1	Cairid	Cairid	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	teller	teller	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The silent poet who sat listening by the door

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1068-pg2892-part36:t9:o4:1
# text = The silent poet who sat listening by the door
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	poet	poet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past | the silent poet |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **listen** | gerund | the silent poet *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by the door | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent by door=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: [Gods and Fighting Men, The Story of Mo…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1068-pg2892-part36/t8/)
- next →: [Gods and Fighting Men, The Story of Mo…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1068-pg2892-part36/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Gods and Fighting Men, The Story of Mongan, part 36: a hailstorm sends Mongan into Faery, where a feast and a tale begin](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1068-pg2892-part36/)