---
title: why was Brer Fox acting deaf, fr? — Uncle Remus, The Fate of Mr. Fox: a ta… · tree and pragmatics
description: why was Brer Fox acting deaf, fr? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 578 «Uncle Remus, The Fate of Mr. Fox: a tattling sparrow gets eaten» 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 was right.
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Uncle Remus, The Fate of Mr. Fox: a tattling sparrow gets…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
why was Brer Fox acting deaf, fr?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Brer Fox · **What happens:** act · **To what, where:** fr

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 578 «Uncle Remus, The Fate of Mr. Fox: a tattling sparrow gets eaten» 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/578-pg2306-part14/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:578-pg2306-part14:t3:1
# text = why was Brer Fox acting deaf, fr?
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	acting	act	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	deaf	deaf	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	fr	fr	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **act** | past · progressive | Brer Fox | fr |  |  |  | deaf *property* | vn act-114-1-1 «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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to trick the bird onto his tooth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:578-pg2306-part14:t3:o1:1
# text = to trick the bird onto his tooth
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	trick	trick	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	onto	onto	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trick** | to-infinitive |  | the bird |  | bird's tooth |  |  | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to lure the rabbit into his den

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:578-pg2306-part14:t3:o2:1
# text = to lure the rabbit into his den
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	lure	lure	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	den	den	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lure** | to-infinitive |  | the rabbit |  |  |  | into rabbit's den *result* | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent rabbit=Patient into den=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to fool the bird with his ears

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:578-pg2306-part14:t3:o3:1
# text = to fool the bird with his ears
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	fool	fool	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fool** | to-infinitive |  | the bird |  |  |  | with bird's ears | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to scare the bird off

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:578-pg2306-part14:t3:o4:1
# text = to scare the bird off
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	scare	scare	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	off	off	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scare off** | to-infinitive |  | the bird |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus bird=Experiencer |

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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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