---
title: Fr, what was the old lady doing by the fire? — Tales of pg641, The Three Princes and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Fr, what was the old lady doing by the fire? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 1758 «Tales of pg641, The Three Princes and The Goat's Ears of the Emperor Trojan, part 9: the witch's rod, the brothers freed, a barber's secret» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics o
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Tales of pg641, The Three Princes and The Goat's Ears of t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fr, what was the old lady doing by the fire?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Fr, old lady · **What happens:** be, do · **To what, where:** old lady

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This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 1758 «Tales of pg641, The Three Princes and The Goat's Ears of the Emperor Trojan, part 9: the witch's rod, the brothers freed, a barber's secret» 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/1758-pg641-part9/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1758-pg641-part9:t4:1
# text = Fr, what was the old lady doing by the fire?
1	Fr	fr	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
8	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Fr and the old lady | the old lady |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | gerund | the old lady *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by the fire | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
raking sticks and leaves

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1758-pg641-part9:t4:o1:1
# text = raking sticks and leaves
1	raking	rake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rake** | gerund |  | sticks and leaves |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent stick=Initial\_Location |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
raking sticks and leaves into a pile near the fire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1758-pg641-part9:t4:o2:1
# text = raking sticks and leaves into a pile near the fire
1	raking	rake	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	csubj	_	_
2	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	1	cc	_	_
4	leaves	leave	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	pile	pile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	near	near	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rake** | gerund |  | sticks |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent stick=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **leave** | present | raking |  |  |  |  | into a pile *result*; near the fire | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into pile=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
gathering wood for fire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1758-pg641-part9:t4:o3:1
# text = gathering wood for fire
1	gathering	gather	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gather** | gerund |  | wood |  |  |  | for fire | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent wood=Theme for fire=Beneficiary |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
boiling water in a pot

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1758-pg641-part9:t4:o4:1
# text = boiling water in a pot
1	boiling	boil	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **boil** | gerund |  | water |  |  |  | in a pot | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent water=Patient in pot=Instrument |

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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: [Tales of pg641, The Three Princes and…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1758-pg641-part9/t3/)
- next →: [Tales of pg641, The Three Princes and…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1758-pg641-part9/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Tales of pg641, The Three Princes and The Goat's Ears of the Emperor Trojan, part 9: the witch's rod, the brothers freed, a barber's secret](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1758-pg641-part9/)