---
title: Mate, who actually nicked the butcher's meat? — Aesop's Fables, The Quack Doctor, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mate, who actually nicked the butcher's meat? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 155 «Aesop's Fables, The Quack Doctor, part 25: a sick man fools his doctor, and a fox outwits a lion» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's c
---

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# Test 1 · ★ · Aesop's Fables, The Quack Doctor, part 25: a sick man fool…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mate, who actually nicked the butcher's meat?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** nick · **To what, where:** meat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 155 «Aesop's Fables, The Quack Doctor, part 25: a sick man fools his doctor, and a fox outwits a lion» 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/155-pg11339-part25/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:155-pg11339-part25:t1:1
# text = Mate, who actually nicked the butcher's meat?
1	Mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
4	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	nicked	nick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	butcher	butcher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nick** | past |  | the butcher's meat |  |  |  | actually *property* | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Patient |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fox was the one, I reckon, mate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:155-pg11339-part25:t1:o1:1
# text = The fox was the one, I reckon, mate
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	reckon	reckon	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the fox | the one and mate |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **reckon** | present | I | the one and mate *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent one=Attribute |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fox did, bruv

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:155-pg11339-part25:t1:o2:1
# text = The fox did, bruv
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	bruv	bruv	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | the fox | bruv |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bruv=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dunno, mate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:155-pg11339-part25:t1:o3:1
# text = Dunno, mate
1	Dunno	Dunno	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	vocative	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both of them were lying, innit

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:155-pg11339-part25:t1:o4:1
# text = Both of them were lying, innit
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nmod	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	innit	innit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | past · progressive | Both |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **innit** | infinitive | Both *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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 Wily Lion, part 24…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/154-pg11339-part24/e4/)
- next →: [Aesop's Fables, The Quack Doctor, part…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/155-pg11339-part25/t2/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop's Fables, The Quack Doctor, part 25: a sick man fools his doctor, and a fox outwits a lion](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/155-pg11339-part25/)