---
title: Why couldn't a hundred blokes shift the iron horse? — Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, p… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why couldn't a hundred blokes shift the iron horse? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 1681 «Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, part 5: the youth steals the ring and gets ready to fight the Dragon» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each
---

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# Test 10 · ★ · Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, part 5: the youth ste…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why couldn't a hundred blokes shift the iron horse?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** hundred blokes · **What happens:** shift · **To what, where:** iron horse

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 1681 «Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, part 5: the youth steals the ring and gets ready to fight the Dragon» 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/1681-pg640-part5/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1681-pg640-part5:t10:1
# text = Why couldn't a hundred blokes shift the iron horse?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	blokes	bloke	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	shift	shift	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shift** | could | hundred blokes | the iron horse |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer horse=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
Cos the blokes were too weak and it was dead heavy, innit

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1681-pg640-part5:t10:o1:1
# text = Cos the blokes were too weak and it was dead heavy, innit
1	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	blokes	bloke	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
13	innit	innit	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the blokes |  |  |  |  | weak *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cos it was bolted down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1681-pg640-part5:t10:o2:1
# text = Cos it was bolted down
1	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	bolted	bolt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	down	down	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bolt down** | past · passive |  | it |  |  |  |  | vn gobble-39.3-1 «NP V NP up»: subject=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cos it was dead heavy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1681-pg640-part5:t10:o3:1
# text = Cos it was dead heavy
1	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
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	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was just too huge

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1681-pg640-part5:t10:o4:1
# text = It was just too huge
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  |  |  |  | huge *property* | 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: [Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, p…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1681-pg640-part5/t9/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, p…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1681-pg640-part5/t11/)
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