---
title: why'd the knights keep falling down? — Fairy Tales, The Miller's Boy and the… · tree and pragmatics
description: why'd the knights keep falling down? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 1703 «Fairy Tales, The Miller's Boy and the Nixy: the hunter is pulled under the pond, and his wife wins him back» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova'
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Fairy Tales, The Miller's Boy and the Nixy: the hunter is…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
why'd the knights keep falling down?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** knights · **What happens:** keep, fall down

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 1703 «Fairy Tales, The Miller's Boy and the Nixy: the hunter is pulled under the pond, and his wife wins him back» 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/1703-pg640-part27/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1703-pg640-part27:t9:1
# text = why'd the knights keep falling down?
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	'd	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	knights	knight	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
7	down	down	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | the knights |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **fall down** | gerund | the knights *not said here* |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the slippery hill was too steep

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1703-pg640-part27:t9:o1:1
# text = the slippery hill was too steep
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	slippery	slippery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	steep	steep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the knights were tired and gave up at the gate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1703-pg640-part27:t9:o2:1
# text = the knights were tired and gave up at the gate
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	knights	knight	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the knights |  |  |  |  | tired *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **give up** | past | the knights *not said here* |  |  | the gate |  |  | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the horses had no proper shoes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1703-pg640-part27:t9:o3:1
# text = the horses had no proper shoes
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
5	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	shoes	shoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the horses | no proper shoes |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shoe=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they were lazy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1703-pg640-part27:t9:o4:1
# text = they were lazy
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	lazy	lazy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | they |  |  |  |  | lazy *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, The Miller's Boy and the…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1703-pg640-part27/t8/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales, The Miller's Boy and the…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1703-pg640-part27/t10/)
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