---
title: What's the trick to the sifter, like how'd they make it hold? — Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzz… · tree and pragmatics
description: What's the trick to the sifter, like how'd they make it hold? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 580 «Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit tricks Buzzard into carrying him home from the island» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the quest
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/580-pg2306-part16/t9/)

<!-- 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 Buzz…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/580-pg2306-part16/) / t9

# Test 9 · ★ · Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What's the trick to the sifter, like how'd they make it hold?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** they, sifter · **What happens:** be, make, hold · **To what, where:** trick, sifter

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 580 «Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit tricks Buzzard into carrying him home from the island» 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/580-pg2306-part16/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:580-pg2306-part16:t9:1
# text = What's the trick to the sifter, like how'd they make it hold?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	trick	trick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sifter	sifter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	'd	'd	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the trick |  |  |  | to the sifter | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | present | they | sifter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **hold** | infinitive | sifter *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fill it with sand and glue it with wax

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:580-pg2306-part16:t9:o1:1
# text = Fill it with sand and glue it with wax
1	Fill	fill	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	glue	glue	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	wax	wax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fill** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | with sand | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with sand=Instrument |
| 2 | **glue** | present | you *not said here* | sand |  |  |  | with wax | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with wax=Instrument |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stuff it with moss and dob it with clay

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:580-pg2306-part16:t9:o2:1
# text = Stuff it with moss and dob it with clay
1	Stuff	stuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nsubj	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	moss	moss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	dob	dob	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stuff** |  | Stuff |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **dob** | infinitive | Stuff | moss |  |  |  | with moss; with clay | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Use moss and clay

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:580-pg2306-part16:t9:o3:1
# text = Use moss and clay
1	Use	use	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	moss	moss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | imperative | you *not said here* | moss and clay |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent moss=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pack it tight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:580-pg2306-part16:t9:o4:1
# text = Pack it tight
1	Pack	pack	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	tight	tight	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pack** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | tight *property* | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=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 Buzz…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/580-pg2306-part16/t8/)
- next →: [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzz…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/580-pg2306-part16/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit tricks Buzzard into carrying him home from the island](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/580-pg2306-part16/)