---
title: Wait, the cattle were just following Ceres around, weren't they? — Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seed… · tree and pragmatics
description: Wait, the cattle were just following Ceres around, weren't they? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 2074 «Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds, part 33: Ceres tests the baby in the fire, then lets the earth go barren» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the 
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds, part 33: Ceres te…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Wait, the cattle were just following Ceres around, weren't they?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, cattle · **What happens:** wait, follow, not be · **To what, where:** following Ceres, cattle

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 2074 «Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds, part 33: Ceres tests the baby in the fire, then lets the earth go barren» 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/2074-pg976-part33/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2074-pg976-part33:t9:1
# text = Wait, the cattle were just following Ceres around, weren't they?
1	Wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	just	just	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	amod	_	_
8	Ceres	Cere	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
9	around	around	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | imperative | you *not said here* | following Ceres |  |  |  | around *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **follow** | past · progressive | the cattle |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **is a** | past |  | cattle |  |  |  |  | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, following her everywhere, lowing and bleating for help because they were starving

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2074-pg976-part33:t9:o1:1
# text = Yeah, following her everywhere, lowing and bleating for help because they were starving
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	lowing	low	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	bleating	bleat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
12	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | everywhere *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **low** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **bleat** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for help | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for help=Recipient |
| 4 | **starve** | past · progressive | they |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nah, they stayed in the barn, lowing and bleating and waiting for someone to feed them

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2074-pg976-part33:t9:o2:1
# text = Nah, they stayed in the barn, lowing and bleating and waiting for someone to feed them
1	Nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stayed	stay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	barn	barn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	lowing	low	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	bleating	bleat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	13	obl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	feed	feed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | past | they |  |  | the barn |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in barn=Location |
| 2 | **low** | gerund | they *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **bleat** | gerund | they *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **wait** | gerund | they *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for someone | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **feed** | to-infinitive | they *not said here* | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, lowing and bleating for help

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2074-pg976-part33:t9:o3:1
# text = Yeah, lowing and bleating for help
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	lowing	low	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	bleating	bleat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **low** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **bleat** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for help | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for help=Recipient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, wandering around crying out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2074-pg976-part33:t9:o4:1
# text = Yeah, wandering around crying out
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	wandering	wonder	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	around	around	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wonder around** *speech: ask* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | around *property* | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **cry out** *speech: express* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- div src -->

**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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