---
title: Wait, how old was the lad when the sea-maiden came back? — More Celtic Fairy Tales, The Fisherman… · tree and pragmatics
description: Wait, how old was the lad when the sea-maiden came back? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 2007 «More Celtic Fairy Tales, The Fisherman's Son, part 1: a poor fisherman promises his first son to the sea-maiden, and the son sets out» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragma
---

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# Test 2 · ★ · More Celtic Fairy Tales, The Fisherman's Son, part 1: a po…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Wait, how old was the lad when the sea-maiden came back?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, sea maiden · **What happens:** wait, be, come back · **To what, where:** old lad

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 2007 «More Celtic Fairy Tales, The Fisherman's Son, part 1: a poor fisherman promises his first son to the sea-maiden, and the son sets out» 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/2007-pg7885-part26/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2007-pg7885-part26:t2:1
# text = Wait, how old was the lad when the sea-maiden came back?
1	Wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	maiden	maiden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
14	back	back	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | the old lad |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **come back** | past | the sea maiden |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ten years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2007-pg7885-part26:t2:o1:1
# text = Ten years
1	Ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two years old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2007-pg7885-part26:t2:o2:1
# text = Two years old
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Eighteen years old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2007-pg7885-part26:t2:o3:1
# text = Eighteen years old
1	Eighteen	eighteen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Twenty years old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2007-pg7885-part26:t2:o4:1
# text = Twenty years old
1	Twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .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: [More Celtic Fairy Tales, The Fisherman…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2007-pg7885-part26/t1/)
- next →: [More Celtic Fairy Tales, The Fisherman…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2007-pg7885-part26/t3/)
- ↑ back to [More Celtic Fairy Tales, The Fisherman's Son, part 1: a poor fisherman promises his first son to the sea-maiden, and the son sets out](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2007-pg7885-part26/)