---
title: State the reason the farmer kept a leg-bone close by the closet door. — English Fairy Tales, Scrapefoot, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: State the reason the farmer kept a leg-bone close by the closet door. Exam question 3 of lesson 248 «English Fairy Tales, Scrapefoot, part 15: pixies eat a cow, a blinded giant, and a fox sneaks into the bears' castle» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragma
---

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# Exam question 3 · English Fairy Tales, Scrapefoot, part 15: pixies eat a cow…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the reason the farmer kept a leg-bone close by the closet door.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** reason · **What happens:** keep · **To what, where:** State

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 248 «English Fairy Tales, Scrapefoot, part 15: pixies eat a cow, a blinded giant, and a fox sneaks into the bears' castle» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/248-pg14241-part15/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:248-pg14241-part15:e3:1
# text = State the reason the farmer kept a leg-bone close by the closet door.
1	State	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	bone	bone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
11	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
12	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	closet	closet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | past | the reason | State |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bone=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He feared the pixies

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:248-pg14241-part15:e3:o1:1
# text = He feared the pixies
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	pixies	pixie	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fear** | past | He | the pixies |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer pixie=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He wanted to hit a pixy with it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:248-pg14241-part15:e3:o2:1
# text = He wanted to hit a pixy with it
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	hit	hit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	pixy	pixy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **hit** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | He *not said here* | a pixy |  |  |  | with pixy | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent pixy=Patient with it=Instrument |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He hoped the pixies would find it and leave

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:248-pg14241-part15:e3:o3:1
# text = He hoped the pixies would find it and leave
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hoped	hope	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	pixies	pixie	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hope** | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **find** | would | the pixies | it |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 3 | **leave** | infinitive | the pixies *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He feared the pixies would search there and discover him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:248-pg14241-part15:e3:o4:1
# text = He feared the pixies would search there and discover him
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	pixies	pixie	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	search	search	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
7	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	discover	discover	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fear** | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **search** | would | the pixies |  |  | there |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **discover** | infinitive | the pixies *not said here* | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Topic |

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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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- next →: [English Fairy Tales, Scrapefoot, part…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/248-pg14241-part15/e4/)
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