---
title: Is this tale about nicking stuff, or about getting your own back? — Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: Is this tale about nicking stuff, or about getting your own back? Test 13 · ★ of lesson 1906 «Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1: Simon buys a mule that three rogues swear is a donkey» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of e
---

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# Test 13 · ★ · Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1: Simon buys a mule…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Is this tale about nicking stuff, or about getting your own back?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** tale · **What happens:** be, nick, get · **To what, where:** tale, stuff, own back

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 13 · ★ of lesson 1906 «Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1: Simon buys a mule that three rogues swear is a donkey» 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/1906-pg7277-part43/#t13).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:t13:1
# text = Is this tale about nicking stuff, or about getting your own back?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
4	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	nicking	nick	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
6	stuff	stuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
10	getting	get	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
11	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | this tale |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **nick** | gerund | this tale *not said here* | stuff |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stuff=Patient |
| 3 | **get** | gerund | this tale | your own back |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer back=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 -->
Getting stuff for free, bruv

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:t13:o1:1
# text = Getting stuff for free, bruv
1	Getting	get	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	0	root	_	_
2	stuff	stuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	bruv	bruv	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | gerund |  | stuff |  |  |  | for free bruv | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent stuff=Theme for bruv=Source |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Getting your own back, bruv

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:t13:o2:1
# text = Getting your own back, bruv
1	Getting	get	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	csubj	_	_
2	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
6	bruv	bruv	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | gerund |  | your own back |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer back=Stimulus |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nicking stuff, innit, mate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:t13:o3:1
# text = Nicking stuff, innit, mate
1	Nicking	nick	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	compound	_	_
2	stuff	stuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	innit	innit	INTJ	UH	_	1	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
6	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nick** | gerund |  | stuff |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stuff=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stealing, mate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:t13:o4:1
# text = Stealing, mate
1	Stealing	stealing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .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: [Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1906-pg7277-part43/t12/)
- next →: [Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1906-pg7277-part43/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1: Simon buys a mule that three rogues swear is a donkey](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1906-pg7277-part43/)