---
title: Lol, what were the birds and bees doing to the mares? — Red Fairy Book, Marya Morevna: Ivan ou… · tree and pragmatics
description: Lol, what were the birds and bees doing to the mares? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 1515 «Red Fairy Book, Marya Morevna: Ivan outwits the Baba Yaga and rescues his bride» 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 wa
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · Red Fairy Book, Marya Morevna: Ivan outwits the Baba Yaga…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lol, what were the birds and bees doing to the mares?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** birds · **What happens:** be, do · **To what, where:** birds

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This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 1515 «Red Fairy Book, Marya Morevna: Ivan outwits the Baba Yaga and rescues his bride» 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/1515-pg540-part12/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1515-pg540-part12:t5:1
# text = Lol, what were the birds and bees doing to the mares?
1	Lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	bees	bee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
9	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	mares	mare	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the birds and bees |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | gerund | the birds and bees *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the mares | vn act-114-1 «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 -->
Pecking and stinging them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1515-pg540-part12:t5:o1:1
# text = Pecking and stinging them
1	Pecking	peck	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	stinging	sting	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	conj	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **peck** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **sting** | gerund |  | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Flapping and biting them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1515-pg540-part12:t5:o2:1
# text = Flapping and biting them
1	Flapping	flap	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	biting	bite	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	conj	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flap** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn body\_internal\_motion-49.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **bite** | gerund |  | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nipping and buzzing at them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1515-pg540-part12:t5:o3:1
# text = Nipping and buzzing at them
1	Nipping	nip	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	buzzing	buzz	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	conj	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nip** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **buzz** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | at them *= they* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Agent at they=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Chasing them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1515-pg540-part12:t5:o4:1
# text = Chasing them
1	Chasing	chase	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chase** | gerund |  | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

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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: [Red Fairy Book, Marya Morevna: Ivan ou…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1515-pg540-part12/t4/)
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