---
title: «They have their tails in their mouths» — why did Alice think this? — Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1… · tree and pragmatics
description: «They have their tails in their mouths» — why did Alice think this? Test 6 · ★★ of lesson 19 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1: The Lobster Quadrille (a dance, a whiting and a porpoise)» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and o
---

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# Test 6 · ★★ · Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1: The Lobster Quadri…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«They have their tails in their mouths» — why did Alice think this?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** They, Alice · **What happens:** have, think · **To what, where:** tails, mouths, this · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★★ of lesson 19 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1: The Lobster Quadrille (a dance, a whiting and a porpoise)» 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/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1:t6:1
# text = «They have their tails in their mouths» — why did Alice think this?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	mouths	mouth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
10	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
11	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
12	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	Alice	Alice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** *in a quote* | present | They | their tails |  | tails's mouths |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past · do-support | Alice | this |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot this=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Whitings were served curled up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1:t6:o1:1
# text = Whitings were served curled up
1	Whitings	whiting	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	curled	curl	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	xcomp	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **serve** | past · passive |  | Whitings |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **curl up** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn coil-9.6-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whitings were cooked with their tails in mouths

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1:t6:o2:1
# text = Whitings were cooked with their tails in mouths
1	Whitings	whiting	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	cooked	cook	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	mouths	mouth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cook** | past · passive |  | Whitings |  | mouths |  | with Whitings's tails | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with tail=Instrument |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whitings were kept in dishes with crumbs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1:t6:o3:1
# text = Whitings were kept in dishes with crumbs
1	Whitings	whiting	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	dishes	dish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	crumbs	crumb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | past · passive |  | Whitings |  | dishes |  | with crumbs | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in dish=Location |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whitings were served curled up like that, with crumbs, in her time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1:t6:o4:1
# text = Whitings were served curled up like that, with crumbs, in her time
1	Whitings	whiting	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	curled	curl	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	xcomp	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	crumbs	crumb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **serve** | past · passive |  | Whitings |  |  | time | with crumbs | tree rules |
| 2 | **curl up** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | like that | vn coil-9.6-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Theme |

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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: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/t5/)
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- ↑ back to [Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1: The Lobster Quadrille (a dance, a whiting and a porpoise)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/)