---
title: Explain the reason given by the Pigeon for disbelieving the Crow's c… — Indian Fairy Tales, The Pigeon and the… · tree and pragmatics
description: Explain the reason given by the Pigeon for disbelieving the Crow's claim of indigestion. Exam question 2 of lesson 1855 «Indian Fairy Tales, The Pigeon and the Crow: a greedy Crow is caught and plucked» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the ques
---

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# Exam question 2 · Indian Fairy Tales, The Pigeon and the Crow: a greedy Crow…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Explain the reason given by the Pigeon for disbelieving the Crow's claim of indigestion.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, Crow · **What happens:** explain, give, disbelieve, claim · **To what, where:** reason, claim, indigestion

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1855 «Indian Fairy Tales, The Pigeon and the Crow: a greedy Crow is caught and plucked» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/1855-pg7128-part39/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1855-pg7128-part39:e2:1
# text = Explain the reason given by the Pigeon for disbelieving the Crow's claim of indigestion.
1	Explain	explain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Pigeon	Pigeon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl:agent	_	_
8	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	disbelieving	disbelieve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Crow	Crow	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	claim	claim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	indigestion	indigestion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **explain** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* | the reason |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **give** | participle |  | the reason *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **disbelieve** | gerund |  | the Crow's claim of indigestion |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **claim** |  | the Crow | indigestion |  |  |  |  | nom claim «communication transitive»: poss=agent of=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Crows eat only seeds, so their food never sticks in them at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1855-pg7128-part39:e2:o1:1
# text = Crows eat only seeds, so their food never sticks in them at all
1	Crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	sticks	stick	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | Crows | seeds |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent seed=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **stick** | present | Crows's food |  |  | all |  | in Crows *= crow* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme in they=Destination |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Crows never have indigestion, for their food passes in a trice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1855-pg7128-part39:e2:o2:1
# text = Crows never have indigestion, for their food passes in a trice
1	Crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	indigestion	indigestion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	passes	pass	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	trice	trice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **have** | present | Crows | indigestion |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent indigestion=Patient |
| 2 | **pass** | present | Crows's food |  |  | a trice |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in trice=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Crows are never ill

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1855-pg7128-part39:e2:o3:1
# text = Crows are never ill
1	Crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | Crows |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Crows digest fast, so no

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1855-pg7128-part39:e2:o4:1
# text = Crows digest fast, so no
1	Crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	digest	digest	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **digest** | present | Crows | no |  |  |  | fast *property* | 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 -->
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