---
title: why's men so dodgy, the rook reckoned? — Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Roo… · tree and pragmatics
description: why's men so dodgy, the rook reckoned? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 151 «Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Rooks, part 2: the Farmer tricks the starlings with a secret word, then a Rook warns the cranes» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question a
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Rooks, part 2: the Farm…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
why's men so dodgy, the rook reckoned?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** men · **What happens:** be, reckon · **To what, where:** rook

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 151 «Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Rooks, part 2: the Farmer tricks the starlings with a secret word, then a Rook warns the cranes» 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/151-pg11339-part21/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:151-pg11339-part21:t8:1
# text = why's men so dodgy, the rook reckoned?
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	dodgy	dodgy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	rook	rook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
9	reckoned	reckon	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | men |  |  |  |  | dodgy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **reckon** | participle |  | the rook *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V how S»: 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 -->
they're always shooting at birds with slings

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:151-pg11339-part21:t8:o1:1
# text = they're always shooting at birds with slings
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	're	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	shooting	shoot	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	slings	sling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shoot** | present · progressive | they |  |  |  |  | at birds; with slings; always *property* | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent at bird=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they hunt birds for fun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:151-pg11339-part21:t8:o2:1
# text = they hunt birds for fun
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hunt	hunt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hunt** | present | they | birds |  |  |  | for fun | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent bird=Location for fun=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they say one thing, mean another

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:151-pg11339-part21:t8:o3:1
# text = they say one thing, mean another
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
7	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | they | one thing |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent thing=Topic |
| 2 | **mean** | infinitive | they *not said here* | another |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent another=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they say nice things but mean nasty ones

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:151-pg11339-part21:t8:o4:1
# text = they say nice things but mean nasty ones
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
7	nasty	nasty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | they | nice things |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent thing=Topic |
| 2 | **mean** | present | they *not said here* | nasty ones |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Topic |

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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: [Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Roo…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/151-pg11339-part21/t7/)
- next →: [Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Roo…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/151-pg11339-part21/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Rooks, part 2: the Farmer tricks the starlings with a secret word, then a Rook warns the cranes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/151-pg11339-part21/)