---
title: Was the retainer a total softie, or what? — Tales from the Fjeld, King Lindorm, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: Was the retainer a total softie, or what? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 1666 «Tales from the Fjeld, King Lindorm, part 55: the forged letters and the flight to the hut» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was 
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Tales from the Fjeld, King Lindorm, part 55: the forged le…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Was the retainer a total softie, or what?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** retainer

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 1666 «Tales from the Fjeld, King Lindorm, part 55: the forged letters and the flight to the hut» 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/1666-pg5615-part55/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1666-pg5615-part55:t3:1
# text = Was the retainer a total softie, or what?
1	Was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	retainer	retainer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	total	total	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	softie	softie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the retainer |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
Yeah, he just couldn't bring himself to burn the poor little kids

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1666-pg5615-part55:t3:o1:1
# text = Yeah, he just couldn't bring himself to burn the poor little kids
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	burn	burn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
13	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	kids	kid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **bring** | could | he | himself *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent himself=Theme |
| 2 | **burn** | to-infinitive | he *not said here* | the poor little kids |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent kid=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, he couldn't burn the kids

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1666-pg5615-part55:t3:o2:1
# text = Yeah, he couldn't burn the kids
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	burn	burn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	kids	kid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **burn** | could | he | the kids |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent kid=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, he wouldn't hurt them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1666-pg5615-part55:t3:o3:1
# text = Yeah, he wouldn't hurt them
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	hurt	hurt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **hurt** | would | he | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, honestly he felt so bad for those kids he let them go free

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1666-pg5615-part55:t3:o4:1
# text = Yeah, honestly he felt so bad for those kids he let them go free
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	honestly	honestly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	kids	kid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | past | he |  |  |  |  | bad, honestly *property* | vn conjecture-29.5-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **let** | past | he | kids *= kid* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** | infinitive | kids *= kid* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | free *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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