---
title: Mate, what was Moti's problem with the milk bowls? — Topelius Tales, Little Lasse, part 24:… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mate, what was Moti's problem with the milk bowls? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 1299 «Topelius Tales, Little Lasse, part 24: Lasse dreams of sailing the world, wakes in his boat, and Moti is robbed at an inn» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questi
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Topelius Tales, Little Lasse, part 24: Lasse dreams of sai…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mate, what was Moti's problem with the milk bowls?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** problem

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 1299 «Topelius Tales, Little Lasse, part 24: Lasse dreams of sailing the world, wakes in his boat, and Moti is robbed at an inn» 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/1299-pg3454-part24/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1299-pg3454-part24:t9:1
# text = Mate, what was Moti's problem with the milk bowls?
1	Mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	Moti	Moti	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	problem	problem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	bowls	bowl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | Moti's problem |  |  |  | with the milk bowls | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he kept breaking the bowls his father had bought

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1299-pg3454-part24:t9:o1:1
# text = he kept breaking the bowls his father had bought
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	bowls	bowl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	bought	buy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **break** | gerund | he *not said here* | the bowls |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bowl=Patient |
| 3 | **buy** | past · perfect | his father | the bowls *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bowl=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he drank it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1299-pg3454-part24:t9:o2:1
# text = he drank it
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	drank	drink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drink** | past | he | it |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he knocked over every bowl in the house each morning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1299-pg3454-part24:t9:o3:1
# text = he knocked over every bowl in the house each morning
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	knocked	knock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	over	over	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	bowl	bowl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	det	_	_
10	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **knock over** | past | he | every bowl |  | the house | morning |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent bowl=Theme in house=Destination |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he smashed them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1299-pg3454-part24:t9:o4:1
# text = he smashed them
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	smashed	smash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smash** | past | he | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «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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- ← previous: [Topelius Tales, Little Lasse, part 24:…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1299-pg3454-part24/t8/)
- next →: [Topelius Tales, Little Lasse, part 24:…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1299-pg3454-part24/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Topelius Tales, Little Lasse, part 24: Lasse dreams of sailing the world, wakes in his boat, and Moti is robbed at an inn](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1299-pg3454-part24/)