---
title: Why's everyone whispering the minister murdered the missing men? — Grimm's Household Tales, Clever Hans,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why's everyone whispering the minister murdered the missing men? Test 13 · ★ of lesson 1799 «Grimm's Household Tales, Clever Hans, part 50: Hans rings the bells, outwits the headless dwarves, then rides off through snow» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and prag
---

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# Test 13 · ★ · Grimm's Household Tales, Clever Hans, part 50: Hans rings…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why's everyone whispering the minister murdered the missing men?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** everyone · **What happens:** be, whisper, murder · **To what, where:** minister, missing men

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 13 · ★ of lesson 1799 «Grimm's Household Tales, Clever Hans, part 50: Hans rings the bells, outwits the headless dwarves, then rides off through snow» 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/1799-pg641-part50/#t13).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1799-pg641-part50:t13:1
# text = Why's everyone whispering the minister murdered the missing men?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	7	nsubj	_	_
4	whispering	whisper	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	acl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	minister	minister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	murdered	murder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	missing	missing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | why *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | gerund |  | the minister |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent minister=Topic |
| 3 | **murder** | past | everyone | the missing men |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
Because the ringers vanished and rumours spread

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1799-pg641-part50:t13:o1:1
# text = Because the ringers vanished and rumours spread
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	ringers	ringer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	vanished	vanish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	rumours	rumour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	spread	spread	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vanish** | past | the ringers |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **spread** | present | rumours |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The minister had hidden the bodies

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1799-pg641-part50:t13:o2:1
# text = The minister had hidden the bodies
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	minister	minister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | past · perfect · passive |  | the minister |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The men were poisoned at dinner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1799-pg641-part50:t13:o3:1
# text = The men were poisoned at dinner
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	poisoned	poison	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **poison** | past · passive |  | the men |  | dinner |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the ringers vanished one by one and the minister was seen locking the tower door on the nights they disappeared

<!-- fold The tree, 21 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1799-pg641-part50:t13:o4:1
# text = Because the ringers vanished one by one and the minister was seen locking the tower door on the nights they disappeared
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	ringers	ringer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	vanished	vanish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	obj	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	minister	minister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
13	locking	lock	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	xcomp	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	disappeared	disappear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vanish** | past | the ringers | one |  |  |  | by one | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | past · passive |  | the minister |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **lock** | gerund | the minister *not said here* | the tower door |  |  | night |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent door=Patient |
| 4 | **disappear** | past | ringers *= ringer* | the nights *not said here* |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Grimm's Household Tales, Clever Hans,…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1799-pg641-part50/t12/)
- next →: [Grimm's Household Tales, Clever Hans,…, test 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1799-pg641-part50/t14/)
- ↑ back to [Grimm's Household Tales, Clever Hans, part 50: Hans rings the bells, outwits the headless dwarves, then rides off through snow](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1799-pg641-part50/)