---
title: Mate, what was the old witch floating in? — Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mate, what was the old witch floating in? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 1653 «Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part 1: two reckless princes promise their unborn brother to a witch to escape a storm» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of e
---

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# Test 2 · ★ · Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part 1: two reckless prin…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mate, what was the old witch floating in?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Mate, old witch · **What happens:** be, float · **To what, where:** old witch

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 1653 «Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part 1: two reckless princes promise their unborn brother to a witch to escape a storm» 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/1653-pg5615-part42/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1653-pg5615-part42:t2:1
# text = Mate, what was the old witch floating in?
1	Mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
8	floating	float	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	in	in	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Mate and the old witch | the old witch |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **float** | gerund | the old witch *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a dough-trough

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1653-pg5615-part42:t2:o1:1
# text = a dough-trough
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	dough	dough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	trough	trough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
an old barrel tied up with heavy ropes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1653-pg5615-part42:t2:o2:1
# text = an old barrel tied up with heavy ropes
1	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	barrel	barrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	ropes	rope	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tie up** | participle |  | a old barrel *not said here* |  |  |  | with heavy ropes | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle PP»: agent=Patient with rope=Co-Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a little wooden trough used for kneading bread

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1653-pg5615-part42:t2:o3:1
# text = a little wooden trough used for kneading bread
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	trough	trough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	kneading	kneading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | participle |  | a little wooden trough *not said here* |  |  |  | for kneading bread | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a wooden bowl

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1653-pg5615-part42:t2:o4:1
# text = a wooden bowl
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	bowl	bowl	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: [Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1653-pg5615-part42/t1/)
- next →: [Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1653-pg5615-part42/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Pink Fairy Book, The White Dove, part 1: two reckless princes promise their unborn brother to a witch to escape a storm](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1653-pg5615-part42/)