---
title: when mr dog came, did brer possum fight or play dead? — Uncle Remus, The Wonderful Tar Baby St… · tree and pragmatics
description: when mr dog came, did brer possum fight or play dead? Test 9 · ★ 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 question and of each option; Mova's cho
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Uncle Remus, The Wonderful Tar Baby Story: Brer Rabbit get…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
when mr dog came, did brer possum fight or play dead?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** mr dog · **What happens:** come, do, play · **To what, where:** brer possum fight

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ 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. 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:568-pg2306-part4:t9:1
# text = when mr dog came, did brer possum fight or play dead?
1	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	mr	mr	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	brer	br	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	amod	_	_
8	possum	possum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	fight	fight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
12	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | mr dog |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **do** | past |  | brer possum fight |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fight=Eventuality |
| 3 | **play** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «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 -->
he fought

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:568-pg2306-part4:t9:o1:1
# text = he fought
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	fought	fight	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight** | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he climbed a tree

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:568-pg2306-part4:t9:o2:1
# text = he climbed a tree
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	climbed	climb	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **climb** | past | he | a tree |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location tree=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he played dead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:568-pg2306-part4:t9:o3:1
# text = he played dead
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | past | he | dead |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dead=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he fought the dog hard and then played dead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:568-pg2306-part4:t9:o4:1
# text = he fought the dog hard and then played dead
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	fought	fight	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
8	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight** | past | he | the dog |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **play** | past | he *not said here* | dead |  |  | then |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dead=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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