---
title: What was Brer Fox's reaction upon discovering Brer Rabbit's predicam… — Uncle Remus, Brer Bear's Swelled Head:… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was Brer Fox's reaction upon discovering Brer Rabbit's predicament? Exam question 4 of lesson 584 «Uncle Remus, Brer Bear's Swelled Head: Brer Rabbit tricks Brer Bear into a bee-tree, then Brer Rabbit is caught in Mr. Man's trap» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency
---

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# Exam question 4 · Uncle Remus, Brer Bear's Swelled Head: Brer Rabbit tricks…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was Brer Fox's reaction upon discovering Brer Rabbit's predicament?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Brer reaction · **What happens:** be, discover · **To what, where:** Brer reaction, predicament

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 584 «Uncle Remus, Brer Bear's Swelled Head: Brer Rabbit tricks Brer Bear into a bee-tree, then Brer Rabbit is caught in Mr. Man's trap» 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/584-pg2306-part20/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:584-pg2306-part20:e4:1
# text = What was Brer Fox's reaction upon discovering Brer Rabbit's predicament?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
4	Fox	Fox	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	reaction	reaction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	upon	upon	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	discovering	discover	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
9	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Rabbit	Rabbit	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	predicament	predicament	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | Fox's Brer reaction |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **discover** | gerund | Fox's Brer reaction *not said here* | Brer Rabbit's predicament |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent predicament=Topic |

<!-- .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 danced in a circle and whooped at the sight of the rabbit's terrible trouble

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:584-pg2306-part20:e4:o1:1
# text = He danced in a circle and whooped at the sight of the rabbit's terrible trouble
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	danced	dance	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	whooped	whoop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dance** | past | He |  |  | a circle |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in circle=Location |
| 2 | **whoop** *speech: other* | past | He *not said here* |  |  | the sight of the rabbit's terrible trouble |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **sight** |  |  | the rabbit's terrible trouble |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 4 | **trouble** |  | the rabbit |  |  |  |  |  | nom trouble «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He showed a lot of real surprise

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:584-pg2306-part20:e4:o2:1
# text = He showed a lot of real surprise
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	showed	show	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	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | past | He | a lot of real surprise |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent lot=Recipient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He hollered out loud and made the whole neighborhood come running to the gate to look

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:584-pg2306-part20:e4:o3:1
# text = He hollered out loud and made the whole neighborhood come running to the gate to look
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hollered	holler	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	out	out	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	loud	loud	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	neighborhood	neighborhood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	xcomp	_	_
11	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **holler out** *speech: other* | past | He |  |  |  |  | loud, out *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **make** | past | He *not said here* | the whole neighborhood |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **come** | present | the whole neighborhood *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **run** | gerund | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the gate *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to gate=Result |
| 5 | **look** | to-infinitive | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He expressed considerable astonishment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:584-pg2306-part20:e4:o4:1
# text = He expressed considerable astonishment
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	expressed	express	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	considerable	considerable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	astonishment	astonishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **express** | past | He | considerable astonishment |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent astonishment=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, Brer Bear's Swelled Head:…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/584-pg2306-part20/e3/)
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