---
title: Lol, what was the beer doing while they were all faffing about? — Tales of Many Lands, The Six Sillies:… · tree and pragmatics
description: Lol, what was the beer doing while they were all faffing about? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 1547 «Tales of Many Lands, The Six Sillies: a foolish family, three simpletons and a magic cloth» 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 4 · ★ · Tales of Many Lands, The Six Sillies: a foolish family, th…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lol, what was the beer doing while they were all faffing about?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** beer, they · **What happens:** be, do, faff about · **To what, where:** beer

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This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 1547 «Tales of Many Lands, The Six Sillies: a foolish family, three simpletons and a magic cloth» 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/1547-pg540-part44/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1547-pg540-part44:t4:1
# text = Lol, what was the beer doing while they were all faffing about?
1	Lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	beer	beer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	all	all	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	faffing	faff	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
13	about	about	ADP	IN	_	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the beer |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | gerund | the beer *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **faff about** | past · progressive | they |  |  |  |  | all *property* | 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 -->
hopping on the table top

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1547-pg540-part44:t4:o1:1
# text = hopping on the table top
1	hopping	hop	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hop** | gerund |  |  |  | the table top |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on top=Trajectory |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
rolling under the bench

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1547-pg540-part44:t4:o2:1
# text = rolling under the bench
1	rolling	roll	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	under	under	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bench	bench	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roll** | gerund |  |  |  | the bench |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under bench=Trajectory |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
running all over the floor

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1547-pg540-part44:t4:o3:1
# text = running all over the floor
1	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	all	all	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	over	over	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | gerund |  |  |  | the floor |  | all *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over floor=Trajectory |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
spilled on the floor

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1547-pg540-part44:t4:o4:1
# text = spilled on the floor
1	spilled	spill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spill** | participle |  |  |  | the floor |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on floor=Location |

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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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