---
title: Lowkey, which birds were talking about him? — Household Tales, The Youth and the Wit… · tree and pragmatics
description: Lowkey, which birds were talking about him? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 1680 «Household Tales, The Youth and the Witch-maiden, part 4: the birds lead him to the moonlit spring» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's c
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Household Tales, The Youth and the Witch-maiden, part 4: t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lowkey, which birds were talking about him?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Lowkey · **What happens:** talk

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 1680 «Household Tales, The Youth and the Witch-maiden, part 4: the birds lead him to the moonlit spring» 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/1680-pg640-part4/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1680-pg640-part4:t3:1
# text = Lowkey, which birds were talking about him?
1	Lowkey	Lowkey	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	4	det	_	_
4	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past · progressive | Lowkey and which birds |  |  |  |  | about him *= he* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about he=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
Two finches near the stream.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1680-pg640-part4:t3:o1:1
# text = Two finches near the stream.
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	finches	finch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	near	near	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two gaily-plumaged ones who were perched up a tree near the river bank.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1680-pg640-part4:t3:o2:1
# text = Two gaily-plumaged ones who were perched up a tree near the river bank.
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
2	gaily	gaily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	plumaged	plumage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	perched	perch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	up	up	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	near	near	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **plumage** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **perch up** | past · passive |  | Two gaily plumaged ones |  | the river bank |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme tree=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two gaily-plumaged birds sitting up a tall tree over the path.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1680-pg640-part4:t3:o3:1
# text = Two gaily-plumaged birds sitting up a tall tree over the path.
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
2	gaily	gaily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	plumaged	plumage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
11	over	over	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **plumage** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sit up** | gerund | Two plumaged birds *not said here* | a tall tree |  | the path |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent tree=Theme over path=Location |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two gaily-plumaged ones up a tree.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1680-pg640-part4:t3:o4:1
# text = Two gaily-plumaged ones up a tree.
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
2	gaily	gaily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	plumaged	plumage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **plumage** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Household Tales, The Youth and the Wit…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1680-pg640-part4/t2/)
- next →: [Household Tales, The Youth and the Wit…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1680-pg640-part4/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Household Tales, The Youth and the Witch-maiden, part 4: the birds lead him to the moonlit spring](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1680-pg640-part4/)