---
title: no way, did the mice actually want to talk to him? — Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: no way, did the mice actually want to talk to him? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 1415 «Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part 2: the golden ship turns black after the old man steals the ring» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opt
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part 2: the golden ship…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
no way, did the mice actually want to talk to him?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** way, mice · **What happens:** do, want, talk · **To what, where:** way

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 1415 «Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part 2: the golden ship turns black after the old man steals the ring» 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/1415-pg503-part2/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1415-pg503-part2:t9:1
# text = no way, did the mice actually want to talk to him?
1	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | no way |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **want** | present | the mice |  |  |  |  | actually *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **talk** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the mice *not said here* |  | way |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to he=Co-Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
They sent a single scout

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1415-pg503-part2:t9:o1:1
# text = They sent a single scout
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	scout	scout	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | They | a single scout |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scout=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They sent a team of bravest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1415-pg503-part2:t9:o2:1
# text = They sent a team of bravest
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	team	team	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	bravest	brave	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | They | a team of bravest |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent team=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, they sent their queen's best messenger to speak with him at dawn

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1415-pg503-part2:t9:o3:1
# text = Yes, they sent their queen's best messenger to speak with him at dawn
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	amod	_	_
9	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	dawn	dawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | they | their queen's best messenger |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | they *not said here* |  |  |  | dawn | with him *= he* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with he=Co-Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They sent a team of bravest mice to meet him and ask him questions

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1415-pg503-part2:t9:o4:1
# text = They sent a team of bravest mice to meet him and ask him questions
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	team	team	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	bravest	brave	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | They | a team of bravest mice |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent team=Theme |
| 2 | **meet** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | infinitive | They *not said here* | questions | him *= he* |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- /div -->

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