---
title: So what was the Snail's excuse, fam? — Pinocchio, The Adventures of Pinocchio… · tree and pragmatics
description: So what was the Snail's excuse, fam? Test 14 · ★ of lesson 1405 «Pinocchio, The Adventures of Pinocchio, part 18: Pinocchio is kept waiting, kicks the door, and is tempted away by Lamp-Wick» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of 
---

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# Test 14 · ★ · Pinocchio, The Adventures of Pinocchio, part 18: Pinocchio…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So what was the Snail's excuse, fam?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** excuse

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This is test 14 · ★ of lesson 1405 «Pinocchio, The Adventures of Pinocchio, part 18: Pinocchio is kept waiting, kicks the door, and is tempted away by Lamp-Wick» 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/1405-pg500-part18/#t14).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1405-pg500-part18:t14:1
# text = So what was the Snail's excuse, fam?
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Snail	snail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	excuse	excuse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	fam	fam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the Snail's excuse and fam |  |  |  |  | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The stairs were too steep

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1405-pg500-part18:t14:o1:1
# text = The stairs were too steep
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stairs	stair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	steep	steep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the stairs |  |  |  |  | steep *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Snails are never in a hurry, they take their time always

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1405-pg500-part18:t14:o2:1
# text = Snails are never in a hurry, they take their time always
1	Snails	snail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	hurry	hurry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	take	take	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | Snails |  |  | a hurry |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | present | Snails *= snail* |  |  |  | time | always *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her shell was too heavy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1405-pg500-part18:t14:o3:1
# text = Her shell was too heavy
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Her shell |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Snails are never in a hurry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1405-pg500-part18:t14:o4:1
# text = Snails are never in a hurry
1	Snails	snail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	hurry	hurry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | Snails |  |  | a hurry |  |  | tree rules |

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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: [Pinocchio, The Adventures of Pinocchio…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1405-pg500-part18/t13/)
- next →: [Pinocchio, The Adventures of Pinocchio…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1405-pg500-part18/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Pinocchio, The Adventures of Pinocchio, part 18: Pinocchio is kept waiting, kicks the door, and is tempted away by Lamp-Wick](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1405-pg500-part18/)