---
title: so why throw pears at a ghost, lol? — Russian Folk-Tales, The Tsarivna Posse… · tree and pragmatics
description: so why throw pears at a ghost, lol? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 1108 «Russian Folk-Tales, The Tsarivna Possessed: the youth outwits the unclean spirit and wins the Tsar's daughter» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1108-pg29672-part14/t3/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Russian Folk-Tales, The Tsarivna Posse…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1108-pg29672-part14/) / t3

# Test 3 · ★ · Russian Folk-Tales, The Tsarivna Possessed: the youth outw…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
so why throw pears at a ghost, lol?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** throw · **To what, where:** pears, ghost

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 1108 «Russian Folk-Tales, The Tsarivna Possessed: the youth outwits the unclean spirit and wins the Tsar's daughter» 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/1108-pg29672-part14/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1108-pg29672-part14:t3:1
# text = so why throw pears at a ghost, lol?
1	so	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
3	throw	throw	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	pears	pear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	ghost	ghost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw** | imperative | you *not said here* | pears |  | a ghost |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent pear=Theme at ghost=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
To distract her from the youth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1108-pg29672-part14:t3:o1:1
# text = To distract her from the youth
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	distract	distract	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **distract** | to-infinitive |  | her *= she* |  | the youth |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus she=Experiencer |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To keep her busy picking them up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1108-pg29672-part14:t3:o2:1
# text = To keep her busy picking them up
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
5	picking	pick	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | busy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **pick up** | gerund |  | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because pears were the only thing that scares off the unclean spirit

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1108-pg29672-part14:t3:o3:1
# text = Because pears were the only thing that scares off the unclean spirit
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	pears	pear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	scares	scare	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	off	off	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	unclean	unclean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | pears | the only thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **scare off** | present | the only thing | the unclean spirit |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus spirit=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To trick her into following the pears out of the church door forever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1108-pg29672-part14:t3:o4:1
# text = To trick her into following the pears out of the church door forever
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	trick	trick	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	pears	pear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
13	forever	forever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trick** | to-infinitive |  | her *= she* |  |  |  | forever *property* | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 2 | **follow** | gerund |  | the pears |  | the church door |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent pear=Theme out door=Trajectory |

<!-- 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Russian Folk-Tales, The Tsarivna Posse…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1108-pg29672-part14/t2/)
- next →: [Russian Folk-Tales, The Tsarivna Posse…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1108-pg29672-part14/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Russian Folk-Tales, The Tsarivna Possessed: the youth outwits the unclean spirit and wins the Tsar's daughter](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1108-pg29672-part14/)