---
title: Why'd Tom take the short cut past the giant? — English Fairy Tales, Tom Hickathrift:… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why'd Tom take the short cut past the giant? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 242 «English Fairy Tales, Tom Hickathrift: Tom beats the football crowd, four robbers and a tinker, then kills a giant» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each 
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · English Fairy Tales, Tom Hickathrift: Tom beats the footba…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why'd Tom take the short cut past the giant?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Tom, short · **What happens:** take, cut

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 242 «English Fairy Tales, Tom Hickathrift: Tom beats the football crowd, four robbers and a tinker, then kills a giant» 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/242-pg14241-part9/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:242-pg14241-part9:t6:1
# text = Why'd Tom take the short cut past the giant?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	nsubj	_	_
7	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
8	past	past	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	giant	giant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | would | Tom |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **cut** | past | the short |  |  |  |  | past the giant | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme past giant=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
Cos it was like half the distance

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:242-pg14241-part9:t6:o1:1
# text = Cos it was like half the distance
1	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	7	det:predet	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | like half distance | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cos he wanted to see the giant

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:242-pg14241-part9:t6:o2:1
# text = Cos he wanted to see the giant
1	Cos	cos	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | Cos |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **see** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Cos *not said here* | the giant |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer giant=Stimulus |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cos the far road was flooded

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:242-pg14241-part9:t6:o3:1
# text = Cos the far road was flooded
1	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	far	far	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	flooded	flood	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flood** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | cos the far road | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V» |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cos it was quicker

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:242-pg14241-part9:t6:o4:1
# text = Cos it was quicker
1	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	quicker	quick	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | quick *property* | tree rules |

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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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