---
title: bro, what was the maid whispering about? — fairy tales, The Prince in the Old Man… · tree and pragmatics
description: bro, what was the maid whispering about? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 1764 «fairy tales, The Prince in the Old Man's House, part 15: the prince is set a hay task and tricks a horse and a cow» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each op
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1764-pg641-part15/t6/)

<!-- 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 tales, The Prince in the Old Man…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1764-pg641-part15/) / t6

# Test 6 · ★ · fairy tales, The Prince in the Old Man's House, part 15: t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
bro, what was the maid whispering about?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** bro, maid · **What happens:** be, whisper · **To what, where:** maid

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 1764 «fairy tales, The Prince in the Old Man's House, part 15: the prince is set a hay task and tricks a horse and a cow» 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/1764-pg641-part15/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1764-pg641-part15:t6:1
# text = bro, what was the maid whispering about?
1	bro	bro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	maid	maid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
7	whispering	whisper	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	acl	_	_
8	about	about	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | bro | the maid |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | gerund | the maid *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How to get past the old man

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1764-pg641-part15:t6:o1:1
# text = How to get past the old man
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	past	past	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | past the old man | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme past man=Destination |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How to get through the tasks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1764-pg641-part15:t6:o2:1
# text = How to get through the tasks
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tasks	task	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the tasks |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme through task=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How to survive the tasks and keep the old man from beating him in the morning

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1764-pg641-part15:t6:o3:1
# text = How to survive the tasks and keep the old man from beating him in the morning
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	survive	survive	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	tasks	task	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	beating	beat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **survive** | to-infinitive |  | the tasks |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme task=Circumstance |
| 2 | **keep** | infinitive |  | the old man |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Theme |
| 3 | **beat** | gerund |  | man |  |  | morning |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location he=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How to get through the tasks without telling the old man that the prince is a prince

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1764-pg641-part15:t6:o4:1
# text = How to get through the tasks without telling the old man that the prince is a prince
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tasks	task	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the tasks |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme through task=Destination |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund |  |  | the old man  the prince |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent man=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | a prince |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- 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 tales, The Prince in the Old Man…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1764-pg641-part15/t5/)
- next →: [fairy tales, The Prince in the Old Man…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1764-pg641-part15/t7/)
- ↑ back to [fairy tales, The Prince in the Old Man's House, part 15: the prince is set a hay task and tricks a horse and a cow](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1764-pg641-part15/)