---
title: test: Ha, what's a distaff, honestly? — Fairy Book, The Witch, part 1: the Sun… · tree and pragmatics
description: test: Ha, what's a distaff, honestly? Test 12 · ★ of lesson 1726 «Fairy Book, The Witch, part 1: the Sun-Hero is doomed, and twins flee a witch's 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 right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1726-pg640-part50/t12/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Fairy Book, The Witch, part 1: the Sun…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1726-pg640-part50/) / t12

# Test 12 · ★ · Fairy Book, The Witch, part 1: the Sun-Hero is doomed, and…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
test: Ha, what's a distaff, honestly?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Ha · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** distaff

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 1726 «Fairy Book, The Witch, part 1: the Sun-Hero is doomed, and twins flee a witch's 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/1726-pg640-part50/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1726-pg640-part50:t12:1
# text = test: Ha, what's a distaff, honestly?
1	test	test	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
3	Ha	Ha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	distaff	distaff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	honestly	honestly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Ha | a distaff |  |  |  | honestly *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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a stick for holding wool and flax while spinning and weaving

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1726-pg640-part50:t12:o1:1
# text = a stick for holding wool and flax while spinning and weaving
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	wool	wool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	flax	flax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
8	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	weaving	weave	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | gerund | a stick *not said here* | wool and flax |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wool=Theme |
| 2 | **spin** | gerund | a stick *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **weave** | gerund | a stick *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a tool for spinning cotton into cloth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1726-pg640-part50:t12:o2:1
# text = a tool for spinning cotton into cloth
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tool	tool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	cotton	cotton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spin** | gerund | a tool *not said here* | cotton |  | cloth |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent cotton=Theme into cloth=Trajectory |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a stick for holding wool while spinning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1726-pg640-part50:t12:o3:1
# text = a stick for holding wool while spinning
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	wool	wool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | gerund | a stick *not said here* | wool |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wool=Theme |
| 2 | **spin** | gerund | a stick *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a long wooden stick used by the witch to hold the wool for spinning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1726-pg640-part50:t12:o4:1
# text = a long wooden stick used by the witch to hold the wool for spinning
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	wool	wool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | participle |  | a long wooden stick *not said here* |  |  |  | by the witch | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **hold** | to-infinitive |  | the wool |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wool=Theme |
| 3 | **spin** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Fairy Book, The Witch, part 1: the Sun…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1726-pg640-part50/t11/)
- next →: [Fairy Book, The Witch, part 1: the Sun…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1726-pg640-part50/t13/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Book, The Witch, part 1: the Sun-Hero is doomed, and twins flee a witch's hut](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1726-pg640-part50/)