---
title: With reference to the passage, what did the rats say of the tree's s… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir-Tree:… · tree and pragmatics
description: With reference to the passage, what did the rats say of the tree's story when they departed? Exam question 2 of lesson 1630 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir-Tree: the old tree is burned, and a new tale begins» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of t
---

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# Exam question 2 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir-Tree: the old tree is burn…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With reference to the passage, what did the rats say of the tree's story when they departed?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** passage, rats · **What happens:** do, say, depart · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1630 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir-Tree: the old tree is burned, and a new tale begins» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/1630-pg5615-part19/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1630-pg5615-part19:e2:1
# text = With reference to the passage, what did the rats say of the tree's story when they departed?
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	reference	reference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	nsubj	_	_
8	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	's	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	departed	depart	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | the passage |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the rats |  |  |  |  | of the tree's story | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **depart** | past | rats *= rat* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=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 -->
That it was very dull indeed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1630-pg5615-part19:e2:o1:1
# text = That it was very dull indeed
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	dull	dull	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That it was a very poor story

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1630-pg5615-part19:e2:o2:1
# text = That it was a very poor story
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That it was a very poor story and they had never heard such nonsense before

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1630-pg5615-part19:e2:o3:1
# text = That it was a very poor story and they had never heard such nonsense before
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
13	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	nonsense	nonsense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	before	before	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | That | a poor story |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **hear** | past · perfect · passive |  | they |  |  |  | before *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A poor tale

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1630-pg5615-part19:e2:o4:1
# text = A poor tale
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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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- ← previous: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir-Tree:…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1630-pg5615-part19/e1/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir-Tree:…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1630-pg5615-part19/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir-Tree: the old tree is burned, and a new tale begins](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1630-pg5615-part19/)