---
title: The Rat crashes into the bank while praising boats. Why is that funny? — The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: The Rat crashes into the bank while praising boats. Why is that funny? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 25 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 1: The River Bank (the Mole leaves his spring-cleaning and meets the Rat)» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics o
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 1: The River Bank…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Rat crashes into the bank while praising boats. Why is that funny?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Rat, that · **What happens:** crash, praise, be · **To what, where:** bank, boats

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 25 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 1: The River Bank (the Mole leaves his spring-cleaning and meets the Rat)» 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/25-willows-ch1-part1-the-mole-meets-the-river/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The Rat crashes into the bank while praising boats.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:25-willows-ch1-part1-the-mole-meets-the-river:t9:1
# text = The Rat crashes into the bank while praising boats.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Rat	Rat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	crashes	crash	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	praising	praise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
9	boats	boat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **crash** | present | the Rat |  |  |  |  | into the bank *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Patient into bank=Result |
| 2 | **praise** | gerund | the Rat *not said here* | boats |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boat=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why is that funny?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:25-willows-ch1-part1-the-mole-meets-the-river:t9:2
# text = Why is that funny?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
4	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He hits the bank on purpose

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:25-willows-ch1-part1-the-mole-meets-the-river:t9:o1:1
# text = He hits the bank on purpose
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hits	hit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hit** | present | He | the bank |  |  |  | on purpose | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent bank=Instrument on purpose=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a joke

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:25-willows-ch1-part1-the-mole-meets-the-river:t9:o2:1
# text = It is a joke
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a joke |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He talks about rivers while nobody listens

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:25-willows-ch1-part1-the-mole-meets-the-river:t9:o3:1
# text = He talks about rivers while nobody listens
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	talks	talk	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	about	about	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
5	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	nsubj	_	_
7	listens	listen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | present | He |  |  |  |  | about rivers | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about river=Topic |
| 2 | **listen** | present | nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He's praising boats while steering badly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:25-willows-ch1-part1-the-mole-meets-the-river:t9:o4:1
# text = He's praising boats while steering badly
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	praising	praise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	boats	boat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	steering	steer	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
7	badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **praise** | present · progressive | He | boats |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boat=Theme |
| 2 | **steer** | gerund | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  | badly *property* | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ↑ back to [The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 1: The River Bank (the Mole leaves his spring-cleaning and meets the Rat)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/25-willows-ch1-part1-the-mole-meets-the-river/)