---
title: What explanation does Brer Possum give for lying motionless when the… — Uncle Remus, The Wonderful Tar Baby St… · tree and pragmatics
description: What explanation does Brer Possum give for lying motionless when the dog attacked? Exam question 3 of lesson 568 «Uncle Remus, The Wonderful Tar Baby Story: Brer Rabbit gets stuck fast to the Tar-Baby» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the quest
---

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# Exam question 3 · Uncle Remus, The Wonderful Tar Baby Story: Brer Rabbit get…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What explanation does Brer Possum give for lying motionless when the dog attacked?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Brer · **What happens:** give, lie, attack · **To what, where:** dog

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 568 «Uncle Remus, The Wonderful Tar Baby Story: Brer Rabbit gets stuck fast to the Tar-Baby» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/568-pg2306-part4/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:568-pg2306-part4:e3:1
# text = What explanation does Brer Possum give for lying motionless when the dog attacked?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	obj	_	_
2	explanation	explanation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	Possum	Possum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	flat	_	_
6	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
9	motionless	motionless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	attacked	attack	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | present · do-support | Brer |  |  |  |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **lie** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | motionless *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **attack** | participle · passive |  | the dog |  |  |  |  | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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 -->
He is extremely ticklish and the dog tickled him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:568-pg2306-part4:e3:o1:1
# text = He is extremely ticklish and the dog tickled him
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	extremely	extremely	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	ticklish	ticklish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	tickled	tickle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  |  |  | extremely, ticklish *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **tickle** | past | the dog | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Experiencer |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is extremely ticklish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:568-pg2306-part4:e3:o2:1
# text = He is extremely ticklish
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	extremely	extremely	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	ticklish	ticklish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  |  |  | extremely, ticklish *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is very ill today

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:568-pg2306-part4:e3:o3:1
# text = He is very ill today
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  |  | today | ill *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was too sleepy then

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:568-pg2306-part4:e3:o4:1
# text = He was too sleepy then
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	sleepy	sleepy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | He |  |  |  | then | sleepy *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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