---
title: Sick, what colour was the king's letter, though? — Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: Sick, what colour was the king's letter, though? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 189 «Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, part 29: Sindbad floats out of a dark underground river and is welcomed in Serendib» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question an
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, part 29: Sindbad float…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sick, what colour was the king's letter, though?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, colour · **What happens:** sick, be · **To what, where:** letter

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 189 «Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, part 29: Sindbad floats out of a dark underground river and is welcomed in Serendib» 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/189-pg128-part29/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:189-pg128-part29:t9:1
# text = Sick, what colour was the king's letter, though?
1	Sick	sick	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
3	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	4	det	_	_
4	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sick** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | what colour | the king's letter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Blue ink on yellowish skin

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:189-pg128-part29:t9:o1:1
# text = Blue ink on yellowish skin
1	Blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	ink	ink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	yellowish	yellowish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Written in gold and silver letters on a long roll of red silk cloth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:189-pg128-part29:t9:o2:1
# text = Written in gold and silver letters on a long roll of red silk cloth
1	Written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	roll	roll	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
13	silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | participle |  |  |  | gold and silver letters |  | on a long roll of red silk cloth | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in gold=Destination |
| 2 | **roll** |  |  | red silk cloth |  |  |  |  | nom roll «event transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gold ink on red cloth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:189-pg128-part29:t9:o3:1
# text = Gold ink on red cloth
1	Gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	ink	ink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Blue on white parchment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:189-pg128-part29:t9:o4:1
# text = Blue on white parchment
1	Blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	parchment	parchment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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: [Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, pa…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/189-pg128-part29/t8/)
- next →: [Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, pa…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/189-pg128-part29/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, part 29: Sindbad floats out of a dark underground river and is welcomed in Serendib](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/189-pg128-part29/)