---
title: What was the outcome of Brer Wolf's excavation of the pasture? — Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Wolf… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the outcome of Brer Wolf's excavation of the pasture? Exam question 3 of lesson 579 «Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Wolf, part 2: Brer Rabbit tricks Brer Wolf out of his best cow, and Brer Wolf digs for nothing» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and p
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/579-pg2306-part15/e3/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Wolf…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/579-pg2306-part15/) / e3

# Exam question 3 · Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Wolf, part 2: Brer Rabbi…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the outcome of Brer Wolf's excavation of the pasture?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** outcome, pasture · **What happens:** be, excavate

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 579 «Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Wolf, part 2: Brer Rabbit tricks Brer Wolf out of his best cow, and Brer Wolf digs for nothing» 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/579-pg2306-part15/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:579-pg2306-part15:e3:1
# text = What was the outcome of Brer Wolf's excavation of the pasture?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	outcome	outcome	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	Wolf	Wolf	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	excavation	excavation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	pasture	pasture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the outcome of Brer Wolf's excavation of the pasture |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **excavate** |  | the pasture |  |  |  |  |  | nom excavation «act intransitive»: of=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 recovered a bit of rotten meat that had been buried for a very long time

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:579-pg2306-part15:e3:o1:1
# text = He recovered a bit of rotten meat that had been buried for a very long time
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	recovered	recover	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	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	rotten	rotten	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	very	very	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **recover** | past | He | a bit of rotten meat |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bit=Theme |
| 2 | **bury** | past · perfect · passive |  | rotten meat |  |  | time |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He found only old bones

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:579-pg2306-part15:e3:o2:1
# text = He found only old bones
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | He | old bones |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bone=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He recovered no meat whatsoever, only dirt and a few worms from the field

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:579-pg2306-part15:e3:o3:1
# text = He recovered no meat whatsoever, only dirt and a few worms from the field
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	recovered	recover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	dirt	dirt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	worms	worm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **recover** | past | He | no meat |  | the field |  | dirt and a few worms *obl*; whatsoever *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent meat=Theme from field=Source |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He recovered no meat whatsoever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:579-pg2306-part15:e3:o4:1
# text = He recovered no meat whatsoever
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	recovered	recover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **recover** | past | He | no meat |  |  |  | whatsoever *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Wolf…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/579-pg2306-part15/e2/)
- next →: [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Wolf…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/579-pg2306-part15/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Wolf, part 2: Brer Rabbit tricks Brer Wolf out of his best cow, and Brer Wolf digs for nothing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/579-pg2306-part15/)