---
title: wait, so he was starving, like two days no bread, right? — Tales for Young Folks, The Barmecide F… · tree and pragmatics
description: wait, so he was starving, like two days no bread, right? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 355 «Tales for Young Folks, The Barmecide Feast, part 15: poor Schacabac is treated to a pretend feast by a rich old man» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questio
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Tales for Young Folks, The Barmecide Feast, part 15: poor…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
wait, so he was starving, like two days no bread, right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, he · **What happens:** wait, starve

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 355 «Tales for Young Folks, The Barmecide Feast, part 15: poor Schacabac is treated to a pretend feast by a rich old man» 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/355-pg18442-part15/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:355-pg18442-part15:t3:1
# text = wait, so he was starving, like two days no bread, right?
1	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	like	like	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
11	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	12	det	_	_
12	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
14	right	right	INTJ	UH	_	1	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **starve** | past · progressive | he |  |  |  | day |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Yeah, and he was skint, starving, and sleeping rough in the street

<!-- fold The tree, 12 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:355-pg18442-part15:t3:o1:1
# text = Yeah, and he was skint, starving, and sleeping rough in the street
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	skint	skint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	sleeping	sleep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	parataxis	_	_
12	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | he |  |  |  |  | skint *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **starve** | gerund | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **sleep** | gerund |  |  |  | the street |  | rough *property* | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in street=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, three days no food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:355-pg18442-part15:t3:o2:1
# text = Yeah, three days no food
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, he hadn't eaten proper bread for two whole days, mate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:355-pg18442-part15:t3:o3:1
# text = Yeah, he hadn't eaten proper bread for two whole days, mate
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
11	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	appos	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **eat** | past · perfect | he | proper bread |  |  | day |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bread=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, two days no bread

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:355-pg18442-part15:t3:o4:1
# text = Yeah, two days no bread
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
```

<!-- .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: [Tales for Young Folks, The Barmecide F…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t2/)
- next →: [Tales for Young Folks, The Barmecide F…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Tales for Young Folks, The Barmecide Feast, part 15: poor Schacabac is treated to a pretend feast by a rich old man](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/)