---
title: so the watchman was blowing his horn, what was the big deal? — Andersen's Tales, The Goblin and the G… · tree and pragmatics
description: so the watchman was blowing his horn, what was the big deal? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 1614 «Andersen's Tales, The Goblin and the Grocer: the goblin borrows a tongue and saves a book from fire» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of ea
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Andersen's Tales, The Goblin and the Grocer: the goblin bo…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
so the watchman was blowing his horn, what was the big deal?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 1614 «Andersen's Tales, The Goblin and the Grocer: the goblin borrows a tongue and saves a book from fire» 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/1614-pg5615-part3/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1614-pg5615-part3:t8:1
# text = so the watchman was blowing his horn, what was the big deal?
1	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	watchman	watchman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	blowing	blow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	horn	horn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	13	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	deal	deal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blow** | past · progressive | the watchman | watchman's horn and the big deal |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent horn=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | watchman's horn and the big deal | the big deal |  |  |  |  | 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a great fire was in town

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1614-pg5615-part3:t8:o1:1
# text = a great fire was in town
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | a great fire |  |  | town |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the watch was on break

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1614-pg5615-part3:t8:o2:1
# text = the watch was on break
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	watch	watch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	break	break	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a great fire was burning in the town square

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1614-pg5615-part3:t8:o3:1
# text = a great fire was burning in the town square
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	square	square	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burn** | past · progressive | a great fire |  |  | the town square |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in square=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a great fire was spreading through the whole town

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1614-pg5615-part3:t8:o4:1
# text = a great fire was spreading through the whole town
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	spreading	spread	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	through	through	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | past · progressive | a great fire |  |  | the whole town |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through town=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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- ← previous: [Andersen's Tales, The Goblin and the G…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1614-pg5615-part3/t7/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Goblin and the G…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1614-pg5615-part3/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Goblin and the Grocer: the goblin borrows a tongue and saves a book from fire](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1614-pg5615-part3/)