---
title: Mate, why'd the statue man reckon he needed to flog Mercury? — Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Three… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mate, why'd the statue man reckon he needed to flog Mercury? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 399 «Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Three Bulls, part 20: quick fables of tricks, greed and getting your comeuppance» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the quest
---

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# Test 1 · ★ · Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Three Bulls, part 20: qui…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mate, why'd the statue man reckon he needed to flog Mercury?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** statue man, man · **What happens:** reckon, need, flog · **To what, where:** Mate, Mercury

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 399 «Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Three Bulls, part 20: quick fables of tricks, greed and getting your comeuppance» 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/399-pg21-part20/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:399-pg21-part20:t1:1
# text = Mate, why'd the statue man reckon he needed to flog Mercury?
1	Mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
3	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	'd	'd	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	statue	statue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	reckon	reckon	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	flog	flog	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reckon** | infinitive | the statue man | Mate |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **need** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **flog** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | Mercury |  |  |  |  | vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mercury=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 -->
Cos he wanted a new van

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:399-pg21-part20:t1:o1:1
# text = Cos he wanted a new van
1	Cos	cos	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	van	van	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | Cos | a new van |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot van=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cos he needed cash right now

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:399-pg21-part20:t1:o2:1
# text = Cos he needed cash right now
1	Cos	cos	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	cash	cash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	right	right	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | past | Cos | cash |  |  | now |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot cash=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cos he was bored

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:399-pg21-part20:t1:o3:1
# text = Cos he was bored
1	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	bored	bored	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cos the buyer was rich

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:399-pg21-part20:t1:o4:1
# text = Cos the buyer was rich
1	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	buyer	buyer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | cos the buyer; rich *property* | 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.

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- ← previous: [Aesop's Fables, The Jackdaw and the Do…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/398-pg21-part19/e4/)
- next →: [Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Three…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/399-pg21-part20/t2/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Three Bulls, part 20: quick fables of tricks, greed and getting your comeuppance](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/399-pg21-part20/)