---
title: Like, why was Uncle Remus laughing to himself at the end? — Uncle Remus, The Tar-Baby, part 5: Bre… · tree and pragmatics
description: Like, why was Uncle Remus laughing to himself at the end? Test 13 · ★ of lesson 569 «Uncle Remus, The Tar-Baby, part 5: Brer Rabbit tricks Brer Fox into the brier-patch» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's c
---

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# Test 13 · ★ · Uncle Remus, The Tar-Baby, part 5: Brer Rabbit tricks Brer…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Like, why was Uncle Remus laughing to himself at the end?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Uncle · **What happens:** laugh · **To what, where:** Uncle, end

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 13 · ★ of lesson 569 «Uncle Remus, The Tar-Baby, part 5: Brer Rabbit tricks Brer Fox into the brier-patch» 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/569-pg2306-part5/#t13).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:569-pg2306-part5:t13:1
# text = Like, why was Uncle Remus laughing to himself at the end?
1	Like	like	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	Uncle	Uncle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	Remus	Remus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	flat	_	_
7	laughing	laugh	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	obl	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **laugh** | past · progressive | Uncle |  | Uncle |  | at the end |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was singing about Molly Har'

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:569-pg2306-part5:t13:o1:1
# text = He was singing about Molly Har'
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	about	about	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Molly	Molly	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	Har	Har	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | past · progressive | He |  |  |  |  | about Molly | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme about molly=Location |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was reading a book

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:569-pg2306-part5:t13:o2:1
# text = He was reading a book
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	reading	read	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | past · progressive | He | a book |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent book=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was thinking of Molly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:569-pg2306-part5:t13:o3:1
# text = He was thinking of Molly
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Molly	Molly	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past · progressive | He |  |  |  |  | of Molly | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was remembering a funny old story about Brer Fox and the tar baby

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:569-pg2306-part5:t13:o4:1
# text = He was remembering a funny old story about Brer Fox and the tar baby
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	remembering	remember	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	about	about	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Fox	Fox	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	tar	tar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remember** | past · progressive | He | a funny old story and the tar baby |  |  |  | about Brer Fox | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent story=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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