---
title: How old was the boy in the North Countrie? — Scottish Fairy Tales, The Golden Ball,… · tree and pragmatics
description: How old was the boy in the North Countrie? Test 13 · ★ of lesson 237 «Scottish Fairy Tales, The Golden Ball, My Own Self and the start of The Black Bull of Norroway: the lad beats the bogles, the lass is saved, a fairy child burns her foot, and a girl sets out for her fortune» of the books course of
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/237-pg14241-part4/t13/)

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# Test 13 · ★ · Scottish Fairy Tales, The Golden Ball, My Own Self and the…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How old was the boy in the North Countrie?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** old boy, North Countrie

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 13 · ★ of lesson 237 «Scottish Fairy Tales, The Golden Ball, My Own Self and the start of The Black Bull of Norroway: the lad beats the bogles, the lass is saved, a fairy child burns her foot, and a girl sets out for her fortune» 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/237-pg14241-part4/#t13).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:237-pg14241-part4:t13:1
# text = How old was the boy in the North Countrie?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	North	North	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	Countrie	Countrie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the old boy |  | the North Countrie |  |  | 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 -->
just six, a wee nipper, who still slept in his mother's bed each night

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:237-pg14241-part4:t13:o1:1
# text = just six, a wee nipper, who still slept in his mother's bed each night
1	just	just	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	wee	wee	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	nipper	nipper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
9	still	still	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	slept	sleep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	17	det	_	_
17	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sleep** | past | a wee nipper |  |  | his mother's bed | still; night |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in bed=Location |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
just six, a wee nipper

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:237-pg14241-part4:t13:o2:1
# text = just six, a wee nipper
1	just	just	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	wee	wee	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	nipper	nipper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
just six years old, a wee nipper who was far too young to be out at night

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:237-pg14241-part4:t13:o3:1
# text = just six years old, a wee nipper who was far too young to be out at night
1	just	just	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	wee	wee	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	nipper	nipper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
12	too	too	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	acl:relcl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
16	out	out	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | a old wee nipper |  |  |  |  | far, young *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | a old wee nipper *not said here* |  |  |  | at night |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
seven years and a bit

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:237-pg14241-part4:t13:o4:1
# text = seven years and a bit
1	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .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: [Scottish Fairy Tales, The Golden Ball,…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/237-pg14241-part4/t12/)
- next →: [Scottish Fairy Tales, The Golden Ball,…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/237-pg14241-part4/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Scottish Fairy Tales, The Golden Ball, My Own Self and the start of The Black Bull of Norroway: the lad beats the bogles, the lass is saved, a fairy child burns her foot, and a girl sets out for her fortune](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/237-pg14241-part4/)