---
title: what even is at sixes and sevens, like everything's a total mess? — Lang's Fairy Book, Esben and the Witch… · tree and pragmatics
description: what even is at sixes and sevens, like everything's a total mess? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 1659 «Lang's Fairy Book, Esben and the Witch: Esben roasts the witch, saves his brothers and goes home» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · Lang's Fairy Book, Esben and the Witch: Esben roasts the w…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
what even is at sixes and sevens, like everything's a total mess?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** everything · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** sixes

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 1659 «Lang's Fairy Book, Esben and the Witch: Esben roasts the witch, saves his brothers and goes home» 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/1659-pg5615-part48/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1659-pg5615-part48:t11:1
# text = what even is at sixes and sevens, like everything's a total mess?
1	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	even	even	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	sixes	six	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nsubj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	sevens	seven	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	like	like	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
10	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	total	total	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	mess	mess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  | sixes and sevens and a total mess |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | everything |  |  |  |  | like a total mess | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yep, things are tangled up badly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1659-pg5615-part48:t11:o1:1
# text = yep, things are tangled up badly
1	yep	yep	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	tangled	tangle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tangle up** | present · passive |  | things |  |  |  | badly *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
nope, all fine

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1659-pg5615-part48:t11:o2:1
# text = nope, all fine
1	nope	nope	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yeah, everything's in a muddle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1659-pg5615-part48:t11:o3:1
# text = yeah, everything's in a muddle
1	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	muddle	muddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yeah, the whole thing's gone haywire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1659-pg5615-part48:t11:o4:1
# text = yeah, the whole thing's gone haywire
1	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	gone	gone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	haywire	haywire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the whole thing | gone haywire |  |  |  |  | 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: [Lang's Fairy Book, Esben and the Witch…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1659-pg5615-part48/t10/)
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