---
title: So the whole thing was about a thorn and a guy being nice, yeah? — Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Sheph… · tree and pragmatics
description: So the whole thing was about a thorn and a guy being nice, yeah? Test 13 · ★ of lesson 405 «Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Shepherd: a Shepherd pulls a thorn from a Lion's paw, and the Lion later spares him» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of t
---

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# Test 13 · ★ · Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Shepherd: a Shepherd pull…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the whole thing was about a thorn and a guy being nice, yeah?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** whole thing, thorn · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** thorn

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 13 · ★ of lesson 405 «Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Shepherd: a Shepherd pulls a thorn from a Lion's paw, and the Lion later spares him» 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/405-pg21-part26/#t13).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:405-pg21-part26:t13:1
# text = So the whole thing was about a thorn and a guy being nice, yeah?
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	about	about	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	thorn	thorn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	guy	guy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	cop	_	_
13	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	13	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the whole thing | a thorn |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | gerund | a thorn |  |  |  |  | nice *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 -->
Yeah, the whole story was about a thorn and a guy being kind to a lion

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:405-pg21-part26:t13:o1:1
# text = Yeah, the whole story was about a thorn and a guy being kind to a lion
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	9	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	thorn	thorn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	guy	guy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	cop	_	_
14	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the whole story |  |  |  |  | about a thorn | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | gerund | a guy |  |  |  |  | to a lion; kind *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, a thorn caused it all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:405-pg21-part26:t13:o2:1
# text = Yeah, a thorn caused it all
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	thorn	thorn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	caused	cause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | past | a thorn | it |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition it=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nope, it's really about a lion learning to be a better and kinder animal

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:405-pg21-part26:t13:o3:1
# text = Nope, it's really about a lion learning to be a better and kinder animal
1	Nope	nope	INTJ	UH	_	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	really	really	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	about	about	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	learning	learn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	cop	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	ccomp	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	kinder	kind	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	16	amod	_	_
16	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | about a lion and kinder animal | tree rules |
| 2 | **learn** | gerund | a lion and kinder animal *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, kindness saved his life

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:405-pg21-part26:t13:o4:1
# text = Yeah, kindness saved his life
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	kindness	kindness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	saved	save	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **save** | past | kindness | kindness's life |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Theme |

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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 Lion and the Sheph…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/405-pg21-part26/t12/)
- next →: [Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Sheph…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/405-pg21-part26/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Shepherd: a Shepherd pulls a thorn from a Lion's paw, and the Lion later spares him](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/405-pg21-part26/)