---
title: what did the old wife cough up on the road, like she was dragging th… — Japanese Fairy Tales, The Tongue-Cut S… · tree and pragmatics
description: what did the old wife cough up on the road, like she was dragging the box? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 1344 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Tongue-Cut Sparrow, part 4: the greedy old wife opens the big box and finds demons» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Japanese Fairy Tales, The Tongue-Cut Sparrow, part 4: the…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
what did the old wife cough up on the road, like she was dragging the box?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** old wife, wife · **What happens:** do, cough up, drag · **To what, where:** road, box

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 1344 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Tongue-Cut Sparrow, part 4: the greedy old wife opens the big box and finds demons» 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/1344-pg4018-part4/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1344-pg4018-part4:t7:1
# text = what did the old wife cough up on the road, like she was dragging the box?
1	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	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	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	cough	cough	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	dragging	drag	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **cough up** | present | the old wife |  |  | the road |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Agent on road=Destination |
| 3 | **drag** | past · progressive | wife | the box |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent box=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
nothing, she just sat by the road and cried the whole time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1344-pg4018-part4:t7:o1:1
# text = nothing, she just sat by the road and cried the whole time
1	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past | nothing |  |  |  |  | by the road | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by road=Location |
| 2 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | nothing *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
nothing, she just sat and rested a bunch

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1344-pg4018-part4:t7:o2:1
# text = nothing, she just sat and rested a bunch
1	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	rested	rest	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	bunch	bunch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past | nothing |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **rest** | past | nothing *not said here* | a bunch |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bunch=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
coins and a small snake that she shook off onto the path

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1344-pg4018-part4:t7:o3:1
# text = coins and a small snake that she shook off onto the path
1	coins	coin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obj	_	_
7	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	shook	shake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	off	off	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	onto	onto	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shake off** | past | coins and a small snake | that |  | the path |  |  | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent that=Theme onto path=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
some gold coins that rattled out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1344-pg4018-part4:t7:o4:1
# text = some gold coins that rattled out
1	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
2	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	coins	coin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	rattled	rattle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rattle out** | participle · passive |  | some gold coins |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=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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