---
title: how did they know where to build the house? — Norse Tales, The Youth and the Hill-Fo… · tree and pragmatics
description: how did they know where to build the house? Test 12 · ★ of lesson 1232 «Norse Tales, The Youth and the Hill-Folk, part 33: a youth is left alone on an island and a strange girl marries him» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of e
---

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# Test 12 · ★ · Norse Tales, The Youth and the Hill-Folk, part 33: a youth…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
how did they know where to build the house?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** they · **What happens:** know, build · **To what, where:** house · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 1232 «Norse Tales, The Youth and the Hill-Folk, part 33: a youth is left alone on an island and a strange girl marries him» 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/1232-pg3282-part33/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1232-pg3282-part33:t12:1
# text = how did they know where to build the house?
1	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	7	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past · do-support | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **build** | to-infinitive |  | the house |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset house=Product |

<!-- .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 looked for the best flat ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1232-pg3282-part33:t12:o1:1
# text = they looked for the best flat ground
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
6	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | past | they |  |  |  |  | for the best flat ground | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for ground=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they walked the whole valley until they found a flat spot near a stream with good soil

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1232-pg3282-part33:t12:o2:1
# text = they walked the whole valley until they found a flat spot near a stream with good soil
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	valley	valley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	near	near	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **walk** | past | they | the whole valley |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme valley=Trajectory |
| 2 | **find** | past | they | a flat spot |  | a stream with good soil |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spot=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they guessed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1232-pg3282-part33:t12:o3:1
# text = they guessed
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	guessed	guess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guess** | past | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they found a spot near a stream

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1232-pg3282-part33:t12:o4:1
# text = they found a spot near a stream
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	near	near	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | they | a spot |  | a stream |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spot=Topic |

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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: [Norse Tales, The Youth and the Hill-Fo…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1232-pg3282-part33/t11/)
- next →: [Norse Tales, The Youth and the Hill-Fo…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1232-pg3282-part33/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Norse Tales, The Youth and the Hill-Folk, part 33: a youth is left alone on an island and a strange girl marries him](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1232-pg3282-part33/)