---
title: Why was the wheat so old? — Russian Folk-Tales, The She-Dragon's D… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why was the wheat so old? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 1128 «Russian Folk-Tales, The She-Dragon's Daughter, part 34: Ivan is tricked and the dragon is fooled, then the maiden becomes a fish» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each op
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · Russian Folk-Tales, The She-Dragon's Daughter, part 34: Iv…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why was the wheat so old?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 1128 «Russian Folk-Tales, The She-Dragon's Daughter, part 34: Ivan is tricked and the dragon is fooled, then the maiden becomes a fish» 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/1128-pg29672-part34/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1128-pg29672-part34:t11:1
# text = Why was the wheat so old?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	wheat	wheat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was ready for the sickle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1128-pg29672-part34:t11:o1:1
# text = It was ready for the sickle
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sickle	sickle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  |  |  |  | for the sickle; ready *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wheat was old because the farmer had forgotten to cut it in the summer rains of last year

<!-- fold The tree, 19 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1128-pg29672-part34:t11:o2:1
# text = The wheat was old because the farmer had forgotten to cut it in the summer rains of last year
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wheat	wheat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	forgotten	forget	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	summer	summer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	rains	rain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the wheat |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **forget** | past · perfect | the farmer |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **cut** | to-infinitive | the farmer *not said here* | farmer |  | the summer rains of last year |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product |
| 4 | **rain** |  |  | last year |  |  |  |  | nom rain «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It had grown in the rain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1128-pg29672-part34:t11:o3:1
# text = It had grown in the rain
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past · perfect | It |  |  | the rain |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in rain=Location |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It had been sown a hundred years ago and nobody had cut it since

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1128-pg29672-part34:t11:o4:1
# text = It had been sown a hundred years ago and nobody had cut it since
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	sown	sow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	since	since	ADP	IN	_	12	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sow** | past · perfect · passive |  | It |  |  |  | ago *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **cut** | past · perfect | nobody | it |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Product |

<!-- 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 -->

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- ← previous: [Russian Folk-Tales, The She-Dragon's D…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1128-pg29672-part34/t10/)
- next →: [Russian Folk-Tales, The She-Dragon's D…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1128-pg29672-part34/t12/)
- ↑ back to [Russian Folk-Tales, The She-Dragon's Daughter, part 34: Ivan is tricked and the dragon is fooled, then the maiden becomes a fish](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1128-pg29672-part34/)