---
title: Nina said her master was a total simpleton, didn't she? — Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: Nina said her master was a total simpleton, didn't she? Test 9 · ★ 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 each option;
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1: Simon buys a mule…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nina said her master was a total simpleton, didn't she?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Nina, master · **What happens:** say, be, not do · **To what, where:** total simpleton · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:t9:1
# text = Nina said her master was a total simpleton, didn't she?
1	Nina	Nina	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	total	total	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	simpleton	simpleton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Nina |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | Nina's master | a total simpleton |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **do** | past | Nina |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
Yeah, she said he was a bit slow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:t9:o1:1
# text = Yeah, she said he was a bit slow
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | she |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | he |  |  |  |  | a bit *obl:unmarked*; slow *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, she reckoned he lacked gumption

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:t9:o2:1
# text = Yeah, she reckoned he lacked gumption
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	reckoned	reckon	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	lacked	lack	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	gumption	gumption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reckon** | past | she |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **lack** | past | he | gumption |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nah, he's clever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:t9:o3:1
# text = Nah, he's clever
1	Nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | he |  |  |  |  | clever *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, he was daft

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1906-pg7277-part43:t9:o4:1
# text = Yeah, he was daft
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	daft	daft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | he |  |  |  |  | daft *property* | 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: [Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1906-pg7277-part43/t8/)
- next →: [Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1906-pg7277-part43/t10/)
- ↑ 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/)

