---
title: Mad, so what was the riddle he wanted to crack? — Persian Tales, Prince Almas and the Si… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mad, so what was the riddle he wanted to crack? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 1206 «Persian Tales, Prince Almas and the Simurgh, part 7: Almas slays the dragon, the Simurgh spares him and the prince wins the king's trust» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics o
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Persian Tales, Prince Almas and the Simurgh, part 7: Almas…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mad, so what was the riddle he wanted to crack?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** he, riddle · **What happens:** be, want, crack · **To what, where:** riddle

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 1206 «Persian Tales, Prince Almas and the Simurgh, part 7: Almas slays the dragon, the Simurgh spares him and the prince wins the king's trust» 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/1206-pg3282-part7/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1206-pg3282-part7:t9:1
# text = Mad, so what was the riddle he wanted to crack?
1	Mad	mad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	riddle	riddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	crack	crack	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the riddle |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **want** | past | he | the riddle *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **crack** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the riddle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What the rose did to the cypress, that was the question

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1206-pg3282-part7:t9:o1:1
# text = What the rose did to the cypress, that was the question
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	rose	rose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	cypress	cypress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | the rose |  |  |  |  | to the cypress and the question | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is a** | past | that | the question |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cypress, mate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1206-pg3282-part7:t9:o2:1
# text = The cypress, mate
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cypress	cypress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rose, that's it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1206-pg3282-part7:t9:o3:1
# text = The rose, that's it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rose	rose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the rose | rose |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why the rose wilted, that was the riddle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1206-pg3282-part7:t9:o4:1
# text = Why the rose wilted, that was the riddle
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	rose	rose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	wilted	wilt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	riddle	riddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wilt** | participle | the rose |  |  |  |  |  | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | that | the riddle |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Persian Tales, Prince Almas and the Si…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1206-pg3282-part7/t8/)
- next →: [Persian Tales, Prince Almas and the Si…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1206-pg3282-part7/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Persian Tales, Prince Almas and the Simurgh, part 7: Almas slays the dragon, the Simurgh spares him and the prince wins the king's trust](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1206-pg3282-part7/)