---
title: How long has the Thief been chasing the steed? — West Highland Tales, The Steed of Bell… · tree and pragmatics
description: How long has the Thief been chasing the steed? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 1516 «West Highland Tales, The Steed of Bells, part 13: the three princes set out with the Thief of Sloan to reach the Knight's castle» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the que
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · West Highland Tales, The Steed of Bells, part 13: the thre…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How long has the Thief been chasing the steed?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Thief · **What happens:** have, chase · **To what, where:** steed

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This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 1516 «West Highland Tales, The Steed of Bells, part 13: the three princes set out with the Thief of Sloan to reach the Knight's castle» 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/1516-pg540-part13/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1516-pg540-part13:t9:1
# text = How long has the Thief been chasing the steed?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Thief	Thief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	aux	_	_
7	chasing	chase	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	steed	steed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present |  |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **chase** | participle · progressive | the Thief | the steed |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent steed=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Since he was young

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1516-pg540-part13:t9:o1:1
# text = Since he was young
1	Since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
For seven long winters now

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1516-pg540-part13:t9:o2:1
# text = For seven long winters now
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
3	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	winters	winter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Seven years, the whole time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1516-pg540-part13:t9:o3:1
# text = Seven years, the whole time
1	Seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod:unmarked	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Seven years, the whole time, without ever catching him once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1516-pg540-part13:t9:o4:1
# text = Seven years, the whole time, without ever catching him once
1	Seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	10	advmod	_	_
10	catching	catch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	parataxis	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	10	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  | ever | once *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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: [West Highland Tales, The Steed of Bell…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1516-pg540-part13/t8/)
- next →: [West Highland Tales, The Steed of Bell…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1516-pg540-part13/t10/)
- ↑ back to [West Highland Tales, The Steed of Bells, part 13: the three princes set out with the Thief of Sloan to reach the Knight's castle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1516-pg540-part13/)