---
title: «Dear old Badger! Nobody interferes with him. They'd better not.» Wh… — The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: «Dear old Badger! Nobody interferes with him. They'd better not.» What does «They'd better not» suggest? Test 7 · ★★ of lesson 26 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 2: The River Bank (the picnic basket, the Wild Wood and the Wide World)» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the 
---

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# Test 7 · ★★ · The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 2: The River Bank…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Dear old Badger! Nobody interferes with him. They'd better not.» What does «They'd better not» suggest?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Nobody · **What happens:** interfere, not suggest

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★★ of lesson 26 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 2: The River Bank (the picnic basket, the Wild Wood and the Wide World)» 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/26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «Dear old Badger!

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood:t7:1
# text = «Dear old Badger!
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	Badger	Badger	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Nobody interferes with him.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood:t7:2
# text = Nobody interferes with him.
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	interferes	interfere	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **interfere** | present | Nobody |  |  |  |  | with Badger | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* They'd better not.»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood:t7:3
# text = They'd better not.»
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 4:* What does «They'd better not» suggest?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood:t7:4
# text = What does «They'd better not» suggest?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
9	suggest	suggest	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **suggest** *speech: suggest* | present · do-support |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Badger is a rude old fellow indeed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood:t7:o1:1
# text = Badger is a rude old fellow indeed
1	Badger	Badger	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	rude	rude	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	fellow	fellow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Badger | a rude old fellow |  |  |  | indeed *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Badger is strong and not to be messed with

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood:t7:o2:1
# text = Badger is strong and not to be messed with
1	Badger	Badger	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	messed	mess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Badger |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **mess** | to-infinitive · passive | Badger *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Badger is so old and sleepy that nobody visits him in his house any more

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood:t7:o3:1
# text = Badger is so old and sleepy that nobody visits him in his house any more
1	Badger	Badger	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	sleepy	sleepy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	9	nsubj	_	_
9	visits	visit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	any	any	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Badger |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Badger *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **visit** | present | nobody | Badger |  | Badger's house |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-Agent |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Badger is so kind that nobody ever bothers him at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood:t7:o4:1
# text = Badger is so kind that nobody ever bothers him at all
1	Badger	Badger	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	nsubj	_	_
7	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	8	advmod	_	_
8	bothers	bother	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Badger |  |  |  |  | kind *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **bother** | present | nobody | Badger |  | all | ever |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ↑ back to [The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 2: The River Bank (the picnic basket, the Wild Wood and the Wide World)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood/)