---
title: Be honest, what was the boy doing before the ride? — Uncle Remus, Uncle Remus and the Littl… · tree and pragmatics
description: Be honest, what was the boy doing before the ride? Test 12 · ★ of lesson 589 «Uncle Remus, Uncle Remus and the Little Boy, part 25: the old man refuses more tales, then offers a ride and a string of sayings and songs» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmat
---

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# Test 12 · ★ · Uncle Remus, Uncle Remus and the Little Boy, part 25: the…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Be honest, what was the boy doing before the ride?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 589 «Uncle Remus, Uncle Remus and the Little Boy, part 25: the old man refuses more tales, then offers a ride and a string of sayings and songs» 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/589-pg2306-part25/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:589-pg2306-part25:t12:1
# text = Be honest, what was the boy doing before the ride?
1	Be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	cop	_	_
2	honest	honest	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	csubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	before	before	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	ride	ride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | honest *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | the boy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** | gerund | the boy *not said here* |  |  |  | before the ride |  | vn act-114-1 «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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was waiting for his mother to come up the road with the wagon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:589-pg2306-part25:t12:o1:1
# text = He was waiting for his mother to come up the road with the wagon
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
9	up	up	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	wagon	wagon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | past · progressive | He |  |  |  |  | for his mother | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **come up** | to-infinitive | He *not said here* | the road |  |  |  | with the wagon | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location road=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was just thinking to himself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:589-pg2306-part25:t12:o2:1
# text = He was just thinking to himself
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past · progressive | He |  | himself *= he* |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was playing in the creek

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:589-pg2306-part25:t12:o3:1
# text = He was playing in the creek
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	playing	play	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	creek	creek	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | past · progressive | He |  |  | the creek |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was listening to the old man tell tales by the fire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:589-pg2306-part25:t12:o4:1
# text = He was listening to the old man tell tales by the fire
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	csubj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **listen** | past · progressive | He |  |  |  |  | to the old man | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to man=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | listening | tales |  |  |  | by the fire | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent tale=Recipient |

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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, Uncle Remus and the Littl…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/589-pg2306-part25/t11/)
- next →: [Uncle Remus, Uncle Remus and the Littl…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/589-pg2306-part25/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Uncle Remus, Uncle Remus and the Little Boy, part 25: the old man refuses more tales, then offers a ride and a string of sayings and songs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/589-pg2306-part25/)