---
title: What's the little boy askin' 'bout today? — Uncle Remus, Possum Has No Hair on His… · tree and pragmatics
description: What's the little boy askin' 'bout today? Test 13 · ★ of lesson 583 «Uncle Remus, Possum Has No Hair on His Tail: Brer Possum loses his tail hair while stealing Brer Bear's persimmons.» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each 
---

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# Test 13 · ★ · Uncle Remus, Possum Has No Hair on His Tail: Brer Possum l…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What's the little boy askin' 'bout today?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** little boy askin · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 13 · ★ of lesson 583 «Uncle Remus, Possum Has No Hair on His Tail: Brer Possum loses his tail hair while stealing Brer Bear's persimmons.» 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/583-pg2306-part19/#t13).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:583-pg2306-part19:t13:1
# text = What's the little boy askin' 'bout today?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	askin	askin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	bout	bout	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
10	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the little boy askin and bout |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
why Possum has no tail hair

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:583-pg2306-part19:t13:o1:1
# text = why Possum has no tail hair
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	Possum	Possum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
5	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Possum | no tail hair |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hair=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
why Possum has no hair left on his tail

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:583-pg2306-part19:t13:o2:1
# text = why Possum has no hair left on his tail
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	Possum	Possum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Possum | no hair |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hair=Patient |
| 2 | **leave** | participle |  | no hair *not said here* |  | Possum's tail |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent on tail=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
why Bear planted his trees

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:583-pg2306-part19:t13:o3:1
# text = why Bear planted his trees
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	Bear	Bear	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	planted	plant	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **plant** | past | Bear | Bear's trees |  |  |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
why Possum runs so fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:583-pg2306-part19:t13:o4:1
# text = why Possum runs so fast
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	Possum	possum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	runs	run	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | present | Possum |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=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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- ← previous: [Uncle Remus, Possum Has No Hair on His…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/583-pg2306-part19/t12/)
- next →: [Uncle Remus, Possum Has No Hair on His…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/583-pg2306-part19/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Uncle Remus, Possum Has No Hair on His Tail: Brer Possum loses his tail hair while stealing Brer Bear's persimmons.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/583-pg2306-part19/)