---
title: How long did the messengers tak tae find him, pal? — Book of Tales, Ian the Fisher's Son: t… · tree and pragmatics
description: How long did the messengers tak tae find him, pal? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 1303 «Book of Tales, Ian the Fisher's Son: the princess saves the true winner and chooses him» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choi
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Book of Tales, Ian the Fisher's Son: the princess saves th…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How long did the messengers tak tae find him, pal?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** messengers · **What happens:** tak, find · **To what, where:** him

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 1303 «Book of Tales, Ian the Fisher's Son: the princess saves the true winner and chooses him» 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/1303-pg3454-part28/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1303-pg3454-part28:t9:1
# text = How long did the messengers tak tae find him, pal?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	tak	tak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	tae	tae	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	8	mark	_	_
8	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	pal	pal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tak** | past · do-support | the messengers |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **find** | infinitive | the messengers *not said here* | him *= he* |  |  |  | pal *obl* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
Many days, dead long

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1303-pg3454-part28:t9:o1:1
# text = Many days, dead long
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Many days, dead long, searching every village by the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1303-pg3454-part28:t9:o2:1
# text = Many days, dead long, searching every village by the sea
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	searching	search	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
8	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **search** | gerund |  | every village |  |  |  | by the sea | vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent village=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Not long

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1303-pg3454-part28:t9:o3:1
# text = Not long
1	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
2	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Some days, I think

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1303-pg3454-part28:t9:o4:1
# text = Some days, I think
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	det	_	_
2	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | present | some days |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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