---
title: Whit did the three wee birds ask him, dae ye ken? — Celtic Fairy Tales, Ian the Fisher's S… · tree and pragmatics
description: Whit did the three wee birds ask him, dae ye ken? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 1302 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Ian the Fisher's Son, part 27: Ian is killed and revived by the deer, then the birds carry him under the sea» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · Celtic Fairy Tales, Ian the Fisher's Son, part 27: Ian is…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whit did the three wee birds ask him, dae ye ken?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Whit, three wee birds · **What happens:** do, ask · **To what, where:** dae ye ken, Whit

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 1302 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Ian the Fisher's Son, part 27: Ian is killed and revived by the deer, then the birds carry him under the sea» 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/1302-pg3454-part27/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1302-pg3454-part27:t11:1
# text = Whit did the three wee birds ask him, dae ye ken?
1	Whit	whit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
5	wee	wee	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	dae	dae	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	12	compound	_	_
11	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	12	compound	_	_
12	ken	ken	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | Whit | dae ye ken |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | the three wee birds |  | Whit |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
Whether they could tak him tae the sea-king's castle an' feed him sweeties

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1302-pg3454-part27:t11:o1:1
# text = Whether they could tak him tae the sea-king's castle an' feed him sweeties
1	Whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	tak	tak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	tae	tae	ADP	IN	Foreign=Yes	12	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	_
15	feed	feed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	compound	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	sweeties	sweetie	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tak** | could | they | him *= he* |  |  |  | tae the sea king's castle | tree rules |
| 2 | **feed** | infinitive |  |  | king |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If there wis anything they could dae

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1302-pg3454-part27:t11:o2:1
# text = If there wis anything they could dae
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	wis	wi	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	3	obj	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	dae	dae	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wi** | present |  | anything |  | there |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whether they could tak him somewhere grand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1302-pg3454-part27:t11:o3:1
# text = Whether they could tak him somewhere grand
1	Whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	tak	tak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	somewhere	somewhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	4	advmod	_	_
7	grand	grand	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tak** | could | they | him *= he* |  |  |  | grand, somewhere *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If there wis anything at aw they could dae tae help him find the king's dochter

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1302-pg3454-part27:t11:o4:1
# text = If there wis anything at aw they could dae tae help him find the king's dochter
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	wis	wi	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
4	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	3	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	aw	aw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
9	dae	dae	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	11	nsubj	_	_
10	tae	tae	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	9	flat:foreign	_	_
11	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	's	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	dochter	dochter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wi** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | they *not said here* | anything |  | aw; there |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **help** | could | they | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 3 | **find** | infinitive | him *= he* *not said here* | the king's dochter |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dochter=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.

<!-- /div -->

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