---
title: was Falada a talking horse or was that a fib? — Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Goose-Girl, p… · tree and pragmatics
description: was Falada a talking horse or was that a fib? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 1475 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Goose-Girl, part 1: on the road to the wedding, the maid takes the princess's place» 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 · ★ · Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Goose-Girl, part 1: on the road t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
was Falada a talking horse or was that a fib?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** Falada, fib

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 1475 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Goose-Girl, part 1: on the road to the wedding, the maid takes the princess's place» 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/1475-pg503-part62/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1475-pg503-part62:t9:1
# text = was Falada a talking horse or was that a fib?
1	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	cop	_	_
2	Falada	Falada	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	talking	talking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	fib	fib	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | Falada |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | a fib |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
nah, he only neighed, no talking, sorry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1475-pg503-part62:t9:o1:1
# text = nah, he only neighed, no talking, sorry
1	nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	neighed	neigh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
8	talking	talking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
10	sorry	sorry	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **neigh** | past | he | no talking |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent talking=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yeah, it was a fib, he never said a word, mate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1475-pg503-part62:t9:o2:1
# text = yeah, it was a fib, he never said a word, mate
1	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	fib	fib	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | it | a fib |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* | past | he | a word and mate |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
nah, it's true, he could actually talk, sick

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1475-pg503-part62:t9:o3:1
# text = nah, it's true, he could actually talk, sick
1	nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **talk** | could | he |  |  |  |  | actually *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yeah, it was a total fib, he could never talk, and the maid made it up, sick

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1475-pg503-part62:t9:o4:1
# text = yeah, it was a total fib, he could never talk, and the maid made it up, sick
1	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	total	total	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	fib	fib	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	maid	maid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	up	up	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | it | a total fib |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **talk** | could | he | a total fib *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent fib=Patient |
| 3 | **make up** | past | the maid | fib |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Pivot |
| 4 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- 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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