---
title: what did the monkey mean by "dead crabs have no mouths"? — Japanese Fairy Tales, The Monkey and t… · tree and pragmatics
description: what did the monkey mean by "dead crabs have no mouths"? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 1373 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Monkey and the Crab, part 33: the monkey eats the ripe persimmons and kills the crab» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question an
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Japanese Fairy Tales, The Monkey and the Crab, part 33: th…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
what did the monkey mean by "dead crabs have no mouths"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** monkey, dead crabs · **What happens:** mean, have · **To what, where:** mouths · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 1373 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Monkey and the Crab, part 33: the monkey eats the ripe persimmons and kills the crab» 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/1373-pg4018-part33/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1373-pg4018-part33:t7:1
# text = what did the monkey mean by "dead crabs have no mouths"?
1	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	monkey	monkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	crabs	crab	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
11	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	12	det	_	_
12	mouths	mouth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | past · do-support | the monkey |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 2 | **have** *in a quote* | present | dead crabs | no mouths |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouth=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
he thought crabs couldn't talk anyway

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1373-pg4018-part33:t7:o1:1
# text = he thought crabs couldn't talk anyway
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	crabs	crab	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
7	anyway	anyway	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **talk** | could | crabs |  |  |  |  | anyway *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he thought nobody could tell he did it because dead crabs cannot talk

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1373-pg4018-part33:t7:o2:1
# text = he thought nobody could tell he did it because dead crabs cannot talk
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
10	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	crabs	crab	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
12	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** | past | he | it |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 4 | **not** **talk** | can | dead crabs |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he thought nobody could tell he did it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1373-pg4018-part33:t7:o3:1
# text = he thought nobody could tell he did it
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** | past | he | it |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he meant that nobody could tell he did it since the crab could not speak anymore

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1373-pg4018-part33:t7:o4:1
# text = he meant that nobody could tell he did it since the crab could not speak anymore
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	nsubj	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
16	anymore	anymore	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** | past | he | it |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 4 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | could | the crab |  |  |  |  | anymore *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- div src -->

**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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