---
title: The elephant didn't even see the tortoise the whole time? — Indian Tales, Tale of a Tortoise and o… · tree and pragmatics
description: The elephant didn't even see the tortoise the whole time? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 1258 «Indian Tales, Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monkey, part 59: the clever tortoise tricks an elephant and a whale into a tug-of-war» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · Indian Tales, Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monk…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The elephant didn't even see the tortoise the whole time?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** elephant · **What happens:** not see · **To what, where:** tortoise

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 1258 «Indian Tales, Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monkey, part 59: the clever tortoise tricks an elephant and a whale into a tug-of-war» 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/1258-pg3282-part59/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1258-pg3282-part59:t5:1
# text = The elephant didn't even see the tortoise the whole time?
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	even	even	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | past · do-support | the elephant | the tortoise |  |  | time |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tortoise=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 -->
Nope, he thought the whale was his friend

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1258-pg3282-part59:t5:o1:1
# text = Nope, he thought the whale was his friend
1	Nope	nope	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the whale | whale's friend |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, he spotted the tortoise right away but decided he was too small to be worth bothering about at all

<!-- fold The tree, 20 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1258-pg3282-part59:t5:o2:1
# text = Yeah, he spotted the tortoise right away but decided he was too small to be worth bothering about at all
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	spotted	spot	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	right	right	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	decided	decide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	too	too	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	ccomp	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	cop	_	_
17	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	conj	_	_
18	bothering	bother	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	xcomp	_	_
19	about	about	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spot** | past | he | the tortoise |  |  |  | away *property* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent tortoise=Destination |
| 2 | **decide** | past | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | he |  |  |  |  | small *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | to-infinitive | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  | worth *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **bother** | gerund | he *not said here* |  |  | all |  | about *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nope, he was so busy pulling that he never once looked around to see who was really on the other end of the rope

<!-- fold The tree, 24 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1258-pg3282-part59:t5:o3:1
# text = Nope, he was so busy pulling that he never once looked around to see who was really on the other end of the rope
1	Nope	nope	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	pulling	pull	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	12	advmod	_	_
12	looked	look	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
13	around	around	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
18	really	really	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	ccomp	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | he |  |  |  |  | busy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **pull** | gerund | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  | around *property* | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **look around** | participle | he |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **see** | to-infinitive | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  | on the other end | of the rope | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nope, he thought the whale was the only foe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1258-pg3282-part59:t5:o4:1
# text = Nope, he thought the whale was the only foe
1	Nope	nope	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	foe	foe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the whale | the only foe |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- 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: [Indian Tales, Tale of a Tortoise and o…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1258-pg3282-part59/t4/)
- next →: [Indian Tales, Tale of a Tortoise and o…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1258-pg3282-part59/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Indian Tales, Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monkey, part 59: the clever tortoise tricks an elephant and a whale into a tug-of-war](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1258-pg3282-part59/)