---
title: what was that bit on the walls that said the gilding decays? — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Old House,… · tree and pragmatics
description: what was that bit on the walls that said the gilding decays? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 298 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Old House, part 25: a lonely old man and a gift» 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 
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Old House, part 25: a lonely o…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
what was that bit on the walls that said the gilding decays?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** bit, walls · **What happens:** be, say · **To what, where:** gilding decays · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 298 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Old House, part 25: a lonely old man and a gift» 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/298-pg1597-part25/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:298-pg1597-part25:t6:1
# text = what was that bit on the walls that said the gilding decays?
1	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	gilding	gilding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	decays	decay	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | that bit on the walls |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the walls | the gilding decays |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent decay=Topic |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A message from the old king

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:298-pg1597-part25:t6:o1:1
# text = A message from the old king
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A rhyme the walls sang out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:298-pg1597-part25:t6:o2:1
# text = A rhyme the walls sang out
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rhyme	rhyme	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing out** *speech: express* | past | a rhyme |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A poem carved on the beam

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:298-pg1597-part25:t6:o3:1
# text = A poem carved on the beam
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	poem	poem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	carved	carve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	beam	beam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carve** | participle |  | a poem *not said here* |  | the beam |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on beam=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A song

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:298-pg1597-part25:t6:o4:1
# text = A song
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Old House,…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/298-pg1597-part25/t5/)
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