---
title: how old was the boy listening to this, like bro? — Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Miss Cow,… · tree and pragmatics
description: how old was the boy listening to this, like bro? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 572 «Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Miss Cow, part 8: Brer Rabbit tricks Miss Cow into a tree, then Brer Terrapin goes calling» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question an
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Miss Cow, part 8: Brer Rabbit…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
how old was the boy listening to this, like bro?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** old boy · **What happens:** be, listen · **To what, where:** old boy

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 572 «Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Miss Cow, part 8: Brer Rabbit tricks Miss Cow into a tree, then Brer Terrapin goes calling» 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/572-pg2306-part8/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:572-pg2306-part8:t9:1
# text = how old was the boy listening to this, like bro?
1	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	like	like	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	bro	bro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the old boy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **listen** | gerund | the old boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to this; like bro | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to this=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
about nine or ten, the bright one

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:572-pg2306-part8:t9:o1:1
# text = about nine or ten, the bright one
1	about	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
about eight, the quiet one

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:572-pg2306-part8:t9:o2:1
# text = about eight, the quiet one
1	about	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	eight	eight	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
about nine or ten, the bright one who sat by the fire every single evening with Uncle Remus

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:572-pg2306-part8:t9:o3:1
# text = about nine or ten, the bright one who sat by the fire every single evening with Uncle Remus
1	about	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nsubj	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	16	det	_	_
15	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	Uncle	Uncle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	Remus	Remus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past | the bright one |  |  |  | evening | by the fire; with Uncle Remus | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by fire=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
maybe twelve, he was the smart one

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:572-pg2306-part8:t9:o4:1
# text = maybe twelve, he was the smart one
1	maybe	maybe	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	smart	smart	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | he | the smart one |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Miss Cow,…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/572-pg2306-part8/t8/)
- next →: [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Miss Cow,…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/572-pg2306-part8/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Miss Cow, part 8: Brer Rabbit tricks Miss Cow into a tree, then Brer Terrapin goes calling](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/572-pg2306-part8/)