---
title: Bro, why did they not hear the birds talking? — Finnish Tales, The Water-Lily Maiden,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Bro, why did they not hear the birds talking? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 1455 «Finnish Tales, The Water-Lily Maiden, part 42: the Prince dives into the river as a crab» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice w
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Finnish Tales, The Water-Lily Maiden, part 42: the Prince…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bro, why did they not hear the birds talking?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** they, birds · **What happens:** do, not hear, talk · **To what, where:** birds

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 1455 «Finnish Tales, The Water-Lily Maiden, part 42: the Prince dives into the river as a 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/1455-pg503-part42/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1455-pg503-part42:t3:1
# text = Bro, why did they not hear the birds talking?
1	Bro	bro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	hear	hear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **hear** | present | they | the birds |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer bird=Stimulus |
| 3 | **talk** | gerund | the birds *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were too busy staring at each other

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1455-pg503-part42:t3:o1:1
# text = They were too busy staring at each other
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	staring	stare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	5	obl	_	_
8	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | They |  |  |  |  | busy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **stare** | gerund | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at each | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at each=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cos the birds were chatting in some weird language that nobody round here speaks, innit

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1455-pg503-part42:t3:o2:1
# text = Cos the birds were chatting in some weird language that nobody round here speaks, innit
1	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	chatting	chat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
8	weird	weird	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	obj	_	_
11	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	14	nsubj	_	_
12	round	round	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
14	speaks	speak	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	innit	innit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chat** *speech: other* | past · progressive | the birds | innit |  | some weird language |  |  | vn chit\_chat-37.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | nobody | some weird language |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were asleep, mate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1455-pg503-part42:t3:o3:1
# text = They were asleep, mate
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	vocative	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | They |  |  |  |  | mate *vocative*; asleep *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cos they were just too into each other

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1455-pg503-part42:t3:o4:1
# text = Cos they were just too into each other
1	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	7	case	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	0	root	_	_
8	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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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- ← previous: [Finnish Tales, The Water-Lily Maiden,…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1455-pg503-part42/t2/)
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