---
title: What was the cow's initial response to the ladder placed before her? — English Fairy Tales, The Three Sillies… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the cow's initial response to the ladder placed before her? Exam question 3 of lesson 1944 «English Fairy Tales, The Three Sillies, part 3: the girl guesses the imp's name, and the sillies begin their troubles» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragm
---

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# Exam question 3 · English Fairy Tales, The Three Sillies, part 3: the girl g…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the cow's initial response to the ladder placed before her?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** initial response · **What happens:** be, place · **To what, where:** ladder

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 1944 «English Fairy Tales, The Three Sillies, part 3: the girl guesses the imp's name, and the sillies begin their troubles» 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/1944-pg7439-part3/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1944-pg7439-part3:e3:1
# text = What was the cow's initial response to the ladder placed before her?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	initial	initial	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	response	response	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	ladder	ladder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	before	before	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the cow's initial response to the ladder |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **place** | participle |  | the ladder *not said here* |  |  | before cow |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent before she=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
She stepped up at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1944-pg7439-part3:e3:o1:1
# text = She stepped up at once
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stepped	step	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **step up** | past | She |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at once=Trajectory |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She ate grass

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1944-pg7439-part3:e3:o2:1
# text = She ate grass
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past | She | grass |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She ran off

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1944-pg7439-part3:e3:o3:1
# text = She ran off
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	off	off	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run off** | past | She |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She refused to climb it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1944-pg7439-part3:e3:o4:1
# text = She refused to climb it
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **refuse** | past | She |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **climb** | to-infinitive | She *not said here* | it |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location it=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.

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- ← previous: [English Fairy Tales, The Three Sillies…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1944-pg7439-part3/e2/)
- next →: [English Fairy Tales, The Three Sillies…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1944-pg7439-part3/e4/)
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