---
title: Mate, what was the herb thing about? — English Fairy Tales, Tommy Grimes: Tom… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mate, what was the herb thing about? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 1967 «English Fairy Tales, Tommy Grimes: Tommy tricks Mr. Miacca with a sofa leg and runs home» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · English Fairy Tales, Tommy Grimes: Tommy tricks Mr. Miacca…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mate, what was the herb thing about?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Mate · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** herb thing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 1967 «English Fairy Tales, Tommy Grimes: Tommy tricks Mr. Miacca with a sofa leg and runs home» 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/1967-pg7439-part26/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1967-pg7439-part26:t8:1
# text = Mate, what was the herb thing about?
1	Mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	herb	herb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	about	about	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Mate | the herb thing |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It'd taste bitter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1967-pg7439-part26:t8:o1:1
# text = It'd taste bitter
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	taste	taste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	bitter	bitter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **taste** | would | It |  |  |  |  | bitter *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It'd taste sweet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1967-pg7439-part26:t8:o2:1
# text = It'd taste sweet
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	taste	taste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **taste** | would | It |  |  |  |  | sweet *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bitter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1967-pg7439-part26:t8:o3:1
# text = Bitter
1	Bitter	bitter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It'd taste sour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1967-pg7439-part26:t8:o4:1
# text = It'd taste sour
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	taste	taste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	sour	sour	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **taste** | would | It |  |  |  |  | sour *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

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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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