---
title: Were the cattle grand, or what happened in the cowshed? — Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: Were the cattle grand, or what happened in the cowshed? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 1277 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad, part 2: the boy becomes a thief's apprentice and robs a farmer at Hallowe'en» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question a
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad, part 2: the boy become…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Were the cattle grand, or what happened in the cowshed?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cattle · **What happens:** be, happen · **To what, where:** cowshed

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 1277 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad, part 2: the boy becomes a thief's apprentice and robs a farmer at Hallowe'en» 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/1277-pg3454-part2/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1277-pg3454-part2:t5:1
# text = Were the cattle grand, or what happened in the cowshed?
1	Were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	grand	grand	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	nsubj	_	_
8	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cowshed	cowshed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the cattle |  |  |  |  | grand *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **happen** | past |  |  |  | the cowshed |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in cowshed=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
the boy loosened their ties

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1277-pg3454-part2:t5:o1:1
# text = the boy loosened their ties
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	loosened	loosen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	ties	tie	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the boy sold the cattle to the neighbours at dawn

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1277-pg3454-part2:t5:o2:1
# text = the boy sold the cattle to the neighbours at dawn
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	dawn	dawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sell** | past | the boy | the cattle | the neighbours |  | dawn |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent cattle=Theme to neighbour=Recipient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the boy untied their ropes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1277-pg3454-part2:t5:o3:1
# text = the boy untied their ropes
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	untied	untie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	ropes	rope	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **untie** | past | the boy | their ropes |  |  |  |  | vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rope=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the boy loosened all their ropes and let them out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1277-pg3454-part2:t5:o4:1
# text = the boy loosened all their ropes and let them out
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	loosened	loosen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	ropes	rope	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	out	out	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **loosen** | past | the boy | their ropes |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent rope=Patient |
| 2 | **let out** | infinitive | the boy *not said here* | ropes *= rope* |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

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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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