---
title: what was the old man holding, like in his hand? — Fifty Famous Stories Retold, King Alfr… · tree and pragmatics
description: what was the old man holding, like in his hand? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 341 «Fifty Famous Stories Retold, King Alfred and the Beggar, part 1: Alfred shares his last bread and wine, then sees a vision» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question 
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Fifty Famous Stories Retold, King Alfred and the Beggar, p…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
what was the old man holding, like in his hand?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** old man · **What happens:** be, hold · **To what, where:** hand

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 341 «Fifty Famous Stories Retold, King Alfred and the Beggar, part 1: Alfred shares his last bread and wine, then sees a vision» 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/341-pg18442-part1/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:341-pg18442-part1:t9:1
# text = what was the old man holding, like in his hand?
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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
6	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	like	like	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the old man |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **hold** | gerund | the old man *not said here* | man's hand |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
a sealed letter with a red wax seal, lol

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:341-pg18442-part1:t9:o1:1
# text = a sealed letter with a red wax seal, lol
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	sealed	seal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	wax	wax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	seal	seal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
10	lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seal** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a wooden staff

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:341-pg18442-part1:t9:o2:1
# text = a wooden staff
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a sword

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:341-pg18442-part1:t9:o3:1
# text = a sword
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
an open book

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:341-pg18442-part1:t9:o4:1
# text = an open book
1	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	book	book	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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Fifty Famous Stories Retold, King Alfr…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/341-pg18442-part1/t8/)
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- ↑ back to [Fifty Famous Stories Retold, King Alfred and the Beggar, part 1: Alfred shares his last bread and wine, then sees a vision](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/341-pg18442-part1/)