---
title: Why was the bird gone so fast, was it dead quick? — The Green Fairy Book, The Little Green… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why was the bird gone so fast, was it dead quick? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 1689 «The Green Fairy Book, The Little Green Frog, part 13: Prince Saphir sets out to find the magic bird that cured his father» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questio
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · The Green Fairy Book, The Little Green Frog, part 13: Prin…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why was the bird gone so fast, was it dead quick?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 1689 «The Green Fairy Book, The Little Green Frog, part 13: Prince Saphir sets out to find the magic bird that cured his father» 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/1689-pg640-part13/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1689-pg640-part13:t5:1
# text = Why was the bird gone so fast, was it dead quick?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
5	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the bird |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | participle |  | the bird *not said here* |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | the bird |  |  |  |  | quick *property* | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was swifter than a swallow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1689-pg640-part13:t5:o1:1
# text = It was swifter than a swallow
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	swifter	swift	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	swallow	swallow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  |  |  |  | than a swallow; swift *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It flew faster than a hawk

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1689-pg640-part13:t5:o2:1
# text = It flew faster than a hawk
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	advmod	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past | It |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the fowlers were slow and the bird knew every hidden path in the forest

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1689-pg640-part13:t5:o3:1
# text = Because the fowlers were slow and the bird knew every hidden path in the forest
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	fowlers	fowler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
11	hidden	hidden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the fowlers |  |  |  |  | slow *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | past | the bird | every hidden path |  | the forest |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer path=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was swifter than a swallow and nobody in the kingdom could follow it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1689-pg640-part13:t5:o4:1
# text = It was swifter than a swallow and nobody in the kingdom could follow it
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	swifter	swift	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	13	nsubj	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	swallow	swallow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	conj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  |  |  |  | than a swallow; swift *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **follow** | could | swifter | kingdom |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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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