---
title: What was he doing when his mam died, like? — English Fairy Tales, A Pottle o' Brain… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was he doing when his mam died, like? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 253 «English Fairy Tales, A Pottle o' Brains, part 20: the Hobyahs are beaten, the fool's mother dies, and a lass offers to help him» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question 
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · English Fairy Tales, A Pottle o' Brains, part 20: the Hoby…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was he doing when his mam died, like?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** he, mam · **What happens:** do, die

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This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 253 «English Fairy Tales, A Pottle o' Brains, part 20: the Hobyahs are beaten, the fool's mother dies, and a lass offers to help him» 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/253-pg14241-part20/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:253-pg14241-part20:t6:1
# text = What was he doing when his mam died, like?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	8	mark	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	mam	mam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past · progressive | he |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **die** | past | his mam |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
sobbing and greeting

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:253-pg14241-part20:t6:o1:1
# text = sobbing and greeting
1	sobbing	sob	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	greeting	greeting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sob** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
down at the market buying a pig for his mam

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:253-pg14241-part20:t6:o2:1
# text = down at the market buying a pig for his mam
1	down	down	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	market	market	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	buying	buy	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	pig	pig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	mam	mam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | gerund | the market *not said here* | a pig |  |  |  | for pig's mam | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent pig=Theme for mam=Beneficiary |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
sitting quietly and reading his book

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:253-pg14241-part20:t6:o3:1
# text = sitting quietly and reading his book
1	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	reading	read	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	conj	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | quietly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **read** | gerund |  | his book |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent book=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
working in field

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:253-pg14241-part20:t6:o4:1
# text = working in field
1	working	work	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | in field | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in field=Theme |

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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: [English Fairy Tales, A Pottle o' Brain…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/253-pg14241-part20/t5/)
- next →: [English Fairy Tales, A Pottle o' Brain…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/253-pg14241-part20/t7/)
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