---
title: What's the point of the spear-heads, mate? — English Tales, The Lambton Worm, the C… · tree and pragmatics
description: What's the point of the spear-heads, mate? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 265 «English Tales, The Lambton Worm, the Childe kills the Worm and his vow is broken» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 10 · ★ · English Tales, The Lambton Worm, the Childe kills the Worm…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What's the point of the spear-heads, mate?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** point · **What happens:** be, point · **To what, where:** spear heads

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 265 «English Tales, The Lambton Worm, the Childe kills the Worm and his vow is broken» 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/265-pg14241-part32/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:265-pg14241-part32:t10:1
# text = What's the point of the spear-heads, mate?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the point of the spear heads and mate |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **point** |  |  | the spear heads and mate |  |  |  |  | nom point «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
They finished the worm off proper, mate, after the Childe had already cut it in half

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:265-pg14241-part32:t10:o1:1
# text = They finished the worm off proper, mate, after the Childe had already cut it in half
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	finished	finish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	worm	worm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	off	off	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
6	proper	properly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Childe	Childe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	already	already	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	15	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **finish off** | past | They | the worm |  |  |  | mate *vocative*; properly *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality worm=Eventuality |
| 2 | **cut** | past · perfect · passive |  | the Childe |  | half |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary it=Product |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They finished the worm off proper

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:265-pg14241-part32:t10:o2:1
# text = They finished the worm off proper
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	finished	finish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	worm	worm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	off	off	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
6	proper	properly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **finish off** | past | They | the worm |  |  |  | properly *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality worm=Eventuality |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were used to stab the worm's body when it was already dying in the river

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:265-pg14241-part32:t10:o3:1
# text = They were used to stab the worm's body when it was already dying in the river
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	stab	stab	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	worm	worm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
10	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	14	mark	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	already	already	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	dying	die	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past · passive |  | They |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Theme clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **stab** | to-infinitive |  | the worm's body |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Patient |
| 3 | **die** | past · progressive | body |  |  |  |  | in the river | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in river=Attribute |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They poked the worm wi' spears

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:265-pg14241-part32:t10:o4:1
# text = They poked the worm wi' spears
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	poked	poke	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	worm	worm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	wi	wi	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
7	spears	spear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **poke** | past | They | the worm wi |  |  |  |  | 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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