---
title: Why did the old man want the ashes, like, what's the reason? — Japanese Fairy Tales, The Old Man Who… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did the old man want the ashes, like, what's the reason? Test 13 · ★ of lesson 1370 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Old Man Who Made the Trees Blossom: the ashes bring a dead cherry tree into bloom, and the greedy neighbor is jailed» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency t
---

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# Test 13 · ★ · Japanese Fairy Tales, The Old Man Who Made the Trees Bloss…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did the old man want the ashes, like, what's the reason?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 13 · ★ of lesson 1370 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Old Man Who Made the Trees Blossom: the ashes bring a dead cherry tree into bloom, and the greedy neighbor is jailed» 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/1370-pg4018-part30/#t13).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1370-pg4018-part30:t13:1
# text = Why did the old man want the ashes, like, what's the reason?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	ashes	ash	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	like	like	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
12	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past · do-support | the old man | the ashes |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot ash=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | like the reason | 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To feed birds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1370-pg4018-part30:t13:o1:1
# text = To feed birds
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	feed	feed	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feed** | to-infinitive |  |  | birds |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Recipient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To remember his dog

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1370-pg4018-part30:t13:o2:1
# text = To remember his dog
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	remember	remember	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remember** | to-infinitive |  | his dog |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent dog=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To honor his old cat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1370-pg4018-part30:t13:o3:1
# text = To honor his old cat
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	honor	honor	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **honor** | to-infinitive |  | his old cat |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cat=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To find a pet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1370-pg4018-part30:t13:o4:1
# text = To find a pet
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	find	find	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	pet	pet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | to-infinitive |  | a pet |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pet=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.

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- ← previous: [Japanese Fairy Tales, The Old Man Who…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1370-pg4018-part30/t12/)
- next →: [Japanese Fairy Tales, The Old Man Who…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1370-pg4018-part30/e1/)
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