---
title: mate, why did the eagle nick the cub, was she skint? — Aesop's Fables, The Eagle and the Fox:… · tree and pragmatics
description: mate, why did the eagle nick the cub, was she skint? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 402 «Aesop's Fables, The Eagle and the Fox: the eagle steals the fox's cub, and the fox takes revenge with fire» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Aesop's Fables, The Eagle and the Fox: the eagle steals th…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
mate, why did the eagle nick the cub, was she skint?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** eagle, mate · **What happens:** nick, be · **To what, where:** cub

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 402 «Aesop's Fables, The Eagle and the Fox: the eagle steals the fox's cub, and the fox takes revenge with fire» 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/402-pg21-part23/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:402-pg21-part23:t3:1
# text = mate, why did the eagle nick the cub, was she skint?
1	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	nick	nick	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	cub	cub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	skint	skint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nick** | past · do-support | the eagle | the cub |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cub=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | past | mate |  |  |  |  | skint *property* | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
for fun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:402-pg21-part23:t3:o1:1
# text = for fun
1	for	for	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
she needed grub for her chicks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:402-pg21-part23:t3:o2:1
# text = she needed grub for her chicks
1	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	grub	grub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	chicks	chick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
was she hungry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:402-pg21-part23:t3:o3:1
# text = was she hungry
1	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
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** | past | she |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
she was short of food for her kids

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:402-pg21-part23:t3:o4:1
# text = she was short of food for her kids
1	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	kids	kid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | she |  |  |  |  | of food; for her kids; short *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 Eagle and the Fox:…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/402-pg21-part23/t2/)
- next →: [Aesop's Fables, The Eagle and the Fox:…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/402-pg21-part23/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop's Fables, The Eagle and the Fox: the eagle steals the fox's cub, and the fox takes revenge with fire](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/402-pg21-part23/)