---
title: Why did the old woman cry all night, mate? — Russian Folk-Tales, Koshchei the Death… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did the old woman cry all night, mate? Test 12 · ★ of lesson 432 «Russian Folk-Tales, Koshchei the Deathless, part 24: Ivan wins Koshchei's death and brings the ring home» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mo
---

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# Test 12 · ★ · Russian Folk-Tales, Koshchei the Deathless, part 24: Ivan…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did the old woman cry all night, mate?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** old woman · **What happens:** cry

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This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 432 «Russian Folk-Tales, Koshchei the Deathless, part 24: Ivan wins Koshchei's death and brings the ring home» 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/432-pg22373-part24/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:432-pg22373-part24:t12:1
# text = Why did the old woman cry all night, mate?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	cry	cry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cry** *speech: express* | past · do-support | the old woman |  |  |  | night | mate *vocative* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
'Cos she missed her son

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:432-pg22373-part24:t12:o1:1
# text = 'Cos she missed her son
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	missed	miss	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **miss** | past | she | her son |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer son=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'Cos she feared the King's anger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:432-pg22373-part24:t12:o2:1
# text = 'Cos she feared the King's anger
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	anger	anger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fear** | past | she | the King's anger |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer anger=Stimulus |
| 2 | **anger** |  | the King |  |  |  |  |  | nom anger «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'Cos she feared losing her head

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:432-pg22373-part24:t12:o3:1
# text = 'Cos she feared losing her head
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	losing	lose	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fear** | past | she |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **lose** | gerund | she *not said here* | her head |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'Cos she feared losing her head to the King's guards

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:432-pg22373-part24:t12:o4:1
# text = 'Cos she feared losing her head to the King's guards
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	losing	lose	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	guards	guard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | past |  | her head |  |  |  | to the King's guards | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Eventuality |

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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: [Russian Folk-Tales, Koshchei the Death…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/432-pg22373-part24/t11/)
- next →: [Russian Folk-Tales, Koshchei the Death…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/432-pg22373-part24/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Russian Folk-Tales, Koshchei the Deathless, part 24: Ivan wins Koshchei's death and brings the ring home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/432-pg22373-part24/)