---
title: The Mole gives «straight back-talk» to the moorhens. What does this… — The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: The Mole gives «straight back-talk» to the moorhens. What does this show? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 28 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 4: The River Bank (the Mole grabs the oars, the boat goes over, and a friendship begins)» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tre
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 4: The River Bank…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Mole gives «straight back-talk» to the moorhens. What does this show?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mole, this · **What happens:** give, show · **To what, where:** talk, moorhens

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 28 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 4: The River Bank (the Mole grabs the oars, the boat goes over, and a friendship begins)» 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/28-willows-ch1-part4-sploosh/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The Mole gives «straight back-talk» to the moorhens.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:28-willows-ch1-part4-sploosh:t8:1
# text = The Mole gives «straight back-talk» to the moorhens.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Mole	mole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	gives	give	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	back	back	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	talk	talk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	moorhens	moorhen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | present | the Mole | talk | the moorhens |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent talk=Theme to moorhen=Recipient |

<!-- .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:* What does this show?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:28-willows-ch1-part4-sploosh:t8:2
# text = What does this show?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
4	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present · do-support | this |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent what=Recipient |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is angry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:28-willows-ch1-part4-sploosh:t8:o1:1
# text = He is angry
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His spirits have come back

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:28-willows-ch1-part4-sploosh:t8:o2:1
# text = His spirits have come back
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come back** | present · perfect | His spirits |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is hungry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:28-willows-ch1-part4-sploosh:t8:o3:1
# text = He is hungry
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is feeling bold and brave again

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:28-willows-ch1-part4-sploosh:t8:o4:1
# text = He is feeling bold and brave again
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	feeling	feel	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	bold	bold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	again	again	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | present · progressive | He |  |  |  | again | bold *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

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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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