---
title: Did the wife actually turn the kid into a calf, or was that a joke? — Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the G… · tree and pragmatics
description: Did the wife actually turn the kid into a calf, or was that a joke? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 163 «Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genie, part 3: the merchant goes back to the fountain, and an old man begins his tale» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmat
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genie, part 3: the me…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Did the wife actually turn the kid into a calf, or was that a joke?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** do, turn, be · **To what, where:** wife, kid, joke

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 163 «Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genie, part 3: the merchant goes back to the fountain, and an old man begins his tale» 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/163-pg128-part3/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:163-pg128-part3:t4:1
# text = Did the wife actually turn the kid into a calf, or was that a joke?
1	Did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	turn	turn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	kid	kid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	into	into	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	calf	calf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  | the wife |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Eventuality |
| 2 | **turn** | present |  | the kid |  |  |  | into a calf *result*; actually *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent kid=Theme into calf=Result |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | a joke |  |  |  |  | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nah, it was a joke

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:163-pg128-part3:t4:o1:1
# text = Nah, it was a joke
1	Nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, she did it with a potion

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:163-pg128-part3:t4:o2:1
# text = Yeah, she did it with a potion
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	potion	potion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She did it for real, with magic

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:163-pg128-part3:t4:o3:1
# text = She did it for real, with magic
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She did it for real, with powerful magic that nobody in the house could undo

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:163-pg128-part3:t4:o4:1
# text = She did it for real, with powerful magic that nobody in the house could undo
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	obj	_	_
11	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	16	nsubj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	undo	undo	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | She | it |  |  |  | for real | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 2 | **undo** | could | nobody | powerful magic |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Patient |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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