---
title: What was the bird-master's big trick? — Celtic Fairy Tales, The Irishman and t… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the bird-master's big trick? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 1736 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Irishman and the Blue Mountains, part 60: the Irishman learns from an Eagle where the Princess is» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of eac
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1736-pg640-part60/t8/)

<!-- 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/) / [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Irishman and t…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1736-pg640-part60/) / t8

# Test 8 · ★ · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Irishman and the Blue Mountains, p…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the bird-master's big trick?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** big trick, bird master · **What happens:** be, trick

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 1736 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Irishman and the Blue Mountains, part 60: the Irishman learns from an Eagle where the Princess is» 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/1736-pg640-part60/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1736-pg640-part60:t8:1
# text = What was the bird-master's big trick?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	trick	trick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the bird master's big trick |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **trick** |  | the bird master |  |  |  |  |  | nom trick «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 -->
He sang a song

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1736-pg640-part60:t8:o1:1
# text = He sang a song
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | He | a song |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He blew his whistle and all the birds came

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1736-pg640-part60:t8:o2:1
# text = He blew his whistle and all the birds came
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	blew	blow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	whistle	whistle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	8	det:predet	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blow** | past | He | his whistle |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent whistle=Patient |
| 2 | **come** | past | all birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **whistle** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom whistle «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He waved a flag and they came

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1736-pg640-part60:t8:o3:1
# text = He waved a flag and they came
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	waved	wave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	flag	flag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wave** | past | He | a flag |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flag=Patient |
| 2 | **come** | past | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He clapped and all the birds flew

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1736-pg640-part60:t8:o4:1
# text = He clapped and all the birds flew
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	clapped	clap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clap** | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |
| 2 | **fly** | past | all birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP 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: [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Irishman and t…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1736-pg640-part60/t7/)
- next →: [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Irishman and t…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1736-pg640-part60/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Irishman and the Blue Mountains, part 60: the Irishman learns from an Eagle where the Princess is](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1736-pg640-part60/)