---
title: Why'd he chuck the thing down a well instead of back in the river? — English Fairy Tales, The Lambton Worm,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why'd he chuck the thing down a well instead of back in the river? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 264 «English Fairy Tales, The Lambton Worm, part 1: the Childe fights the Worm at the Rock» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · English Fairy Tales, The Lambton Worm, part 1: the Childe…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why'd he chuck the thing down a well instead of back in the river?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** he · **What happens:** chuck down · **To what, where:** thing, river

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 264 «English Fairy Tales, The Lambton Worm, part 1: the Childe fights the Worm at the Rock» 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/264-pg14241-part31/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:264-pg14241-part31:t3:1
# text = Why'd he chuck the thing down a well instead of back in the river?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	chuck	chuck	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	down	down	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
10	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	12	case	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
12	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	obl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chuck down** | would | he | the thing |  | the river |  | well *property* | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent thing=Theme in river=Destination |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was skint, didn't fancy the river

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:264-pg14241-part31:t3:o1:1
# text = He was skint, didn't fancy the river
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	skint	skint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	fancy	fancy	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | He |  |  |  |  | skint *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **fancy** | past · do-support |  | the river |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer river=Stimulus |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was dead lazy and couldn't be bothered to walk all the way back to the river

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:264-pg14241-part31:t3:o2:1
# text = He was dead lazy and couldn't be bothered to walk all the way back to the river
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	lazy	lazy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	bothered	bother	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	14	det:predet	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl:unmarked	_	_
15	back	back	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **bother** | could · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **walk** | to-infinitive |  | all way |  |  |  | to the river *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to river=Result |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was dead lazy, couldn't be bothered

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:264-pg14241-part31:t3:o3:1
# text = He was dead lazy, couldn't be bothered
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	lazy	lazy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	bothered	bother	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **bother** | could · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle» |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cos the river was too dirty, mate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:264-pg14241-part31:t3:o4:1
# text = Cos the river was too dirty, mate
1	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	dirty	dirty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the river |  |  |  |  | dirty *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.

<!-- /div -->

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