---
title: Why is the Mouse's plan to dry them with history a joke? — Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is the Mouse's plan to dry them with history a joke? Test 3 · ★★ of lesson 5 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part 1: The driest thing and the Caucus-race» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice wa
---

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# Test 3 · ★★ · Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part 1: The driest thing…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is the Mouse's plan to dry them with history a joke?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be, dry · **To what, where:** plan, them

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 5 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part 1: The driest thing and the Caucus-race» 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/5-alice-ch3-part1-a-caucus-race/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:5-alice-ch3-part1-a-caucus-race:t3:1
# text = Why is the Mouse's plan to dry them with history a joke?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	dry	dry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the Mouse's plan |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **dry** | to-infinitive |  | them *= they* |  |  |  | with history; a joke *obl:unmarked* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent they=Patient with history=Instrument |

<!-- .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 -->
Because the history was about William, who was a French knight with dry wit

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:5-alice-ch3-part1-a-caucus-race:t3:o1:1
# text = Because the history was about William, who was a French knight with dry wit
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	William	William	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	wit	wit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the history |  |  |  |  | about William | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | William | a French knight |  |  |  | with dry wit | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Dry" can mean boring as well as not wet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:5-alice-ch3-part1-a-caucus-race:t3:o2:1
# text = "Dry" can mean boring as well as not wet
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	boring	boring	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
7	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	11	cc	_	_
8	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	fixed	_	_
9	as	as	ADP	IN	_	7	fixed	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	wet	wet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | can | Dry |  |  |  |  | boring *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dry history makes a fun story to read

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:5-alice-ch3-part1-a-caucus-race:t3:o3:1
# text = Dry history makes a fun story to read
1	Dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	fun	fun	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	read	read	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Dry history | a fun story |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset story=Product |
| 2 | **read** | to-infinitive | Dry history *not said here* | a fun story *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Mouse wanted to dry them with a long speech about William the Conqueror

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:5-alice-ch3-part1-a-caucus-race:t3:o4:1
# text = The Mouse wanted to dry them with a long speech about William the Conqueror
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Mouse	Mouse	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	dry	dry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
11	about	about	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	William	William	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Conqueror	conqueror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	appos	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | the Mouse |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **dry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Mouse *not said here* | them *= they* |  |  |  | with a long speech about William | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent they=Patient with speech=Instrument |

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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: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/5-alice-ch3-part1-a-caucus-race/t2/)
- next →: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/5-alice-ch3-part1-a-caucus-race/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part 1: The driest thing and the Caucus-race](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/5-alice-ch3-part1-a-caucus-race/)