---
title: What time did Nix say it was, to save his skin? — English Fairy Tales, Nix Nought Nothin… · tree and pragmatics
description: What time did Nix say it was, to save his skin? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 1947 «English Fairy Tales, Nix Nought Nothing, part 1: a king promises his son to a giant, and the boy escapes with the giant's daughter» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the 
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · English Fairy Tales, Nix Nought Nothing, part 1: a king pr…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What time did Nix say it was, to save his skin?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** time, it · **What happens:** say, be, save · **To what, where:** skin · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 1947 «English Fairy Tales, Nix Nought Nothing, part 1: a king promises his son to a giant, and the boy escapes with the giant's daughter» 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/1947-pg7439-part6/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1947-pg7439-part6:t8:1
# text = What time did Nix say it was, to save his skin?
1	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	Nix	Nix	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · do-support | what time |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **be** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **save** | to-infinitive | what time *not said here* | Nix's skin |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
his dad having his supper

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1947-pg7439-part6:t8:o1:1
# text = his dad having his supper
1	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | gerund | his dad *not said here* | his supper |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent supper=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
his dad's brother coming

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1947-pg7439-part6:t8:o2:1
# text = his dad's brother coming
1	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	coming	come	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | gerund | his dad's brother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
his dad having his supper at the table

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1947-pg7439-part6:t8:o3:1
# text = his dad having his supper at the table
1	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | gerund | his dad *not said here* | his supper |  | the table |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent supper=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the time his mother takes up the eggs at dusk

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1947-pg7439-part6:t8:o4:1
# text = the time his mother takes up the eggs at dusk
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	takes	take	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	dusk	dusk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take up** | present | his mother | the eggs |  |  | dusk; time |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=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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