---
title: Why'd the tiny tongue not work, though? — Project Gutenberg pg503, Princess Mira… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why'd the tiny tongue not work, though? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 1464 «Project Gutenberg pg503, Princess Miranda, part 51: the King orders Miranda killed, and her faithful animals die for her» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of ea
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Project Gutenberg pg503, Princess Miranda, part 51: the Ki…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why'd the tiny tongue not work, though?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** tiny tongue · **What happens:** not work though

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 1464 «Project Gutenberg pg503, Princess Miranda, part 51: the King orders Miranda killed, and her faithful animals die for her» 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/1464-pg503-part51/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1464-pg503-part51:t8:1
# text = Why'd the tiny tongue not work, though?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	7	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **work though** | would | the tiny tongue |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it had been torn in two

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1464-pg503-part51:t8:o1:1
# text = it had been torn in two
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	torn	tear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tear** | past · perfect · passive |  | it |  | two |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it was no bigger than a thumb and had gone black

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1464-pg503-part51:t8:o2:1
# text = it was no bigger than a thumb and had gone black
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	no	no	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	thumb	thumb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
11	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | than a thumb; big *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | black *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it was no bigger than her thumb and hard as bark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1464-pg503-part51:t8:o3:1
# text = it was no bigger than her thumb and hard as bark
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	no	no	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	thumb	thumb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	fixed	_	_
11	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | than her thumb and hard bark; big *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
it was no bigger than her thumb

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1464-pg503-part51:t8:o4:1
# text = it was no bigger than her thumb
1	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	no	no	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	thumb	thumb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | than her thumb; big *property* | 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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