---
title: why'd the toad mom say the eldest is always best? — Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater… · tree and pragmatics
description: why'd the toad mom say the eldest is always best? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 1273 «Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater, part 10: the stolen boy is found by his parents, and a wood-child is adopted by a chieftain» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of 
---

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# Test 10 · ★ · Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater, part 10: the stole…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
why'd the toad mom say the eldest is always best?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** toad mom, eldest · **What happens:** say, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 1273 «Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater, part 10: the stolen boy is found by his parents, and a wood-child is adopted by a chieftain» 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/1273-pg338-part10/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1273-pg338-part10:t10:1
# text = why'd the toad mom say the eldest is always best?
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	'd	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	toad	toad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	mom	mom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	11	advmod	_	_
11	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive | the toad mom |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | the eldest |  |  |  |  | always, good *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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To warn him about the river

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1273-pg338-part10:t10:o1:1
# text = To warn him about the river
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	warn	warn	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **warn** *speech: warn* | to-infinitive |  |  | him *= he* |  |  | about the river | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent he=Recipient about river=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To scare him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1273-pg338-part10:t10:o2:1
# text = To scare him
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	scare	scare	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To sleep

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1273-pg338-part10:t10:o3:1
# text = To sleep
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sleep** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To quiet the boy for a while

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1273-pg338-part10:t10:o4:1
# text = To quiet the boy for a while
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	quiet	quiet	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **quiet** | to-infinitive |  | the boy |  |  | while |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent boy=Patient |

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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: [Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1273-pg338-part10/t9/)
- next →: [Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1273-pg338-part10/t11/)
- ↑ back to [Indian Fairy Tales, Iya the Camp-Eater, part 10: the stolen boy is found by his parents, and a wood-child is adopted by a chieftain](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1273-pg338-part10/)