---
title: Why are «the garlic sang» and «the cheese lay down and cried» funny? — The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, p… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why are «the garlic sang» and «the cheese lay down and cried» funny? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 59 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 4: Wayfarers All (the voyage and lunch by the road)» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of ea
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road/t4/)

<!-- 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/) / [The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, p…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road/) / t4

# Test 4 · ★ · The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 4: Wayfarers All…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why are «the garlic sang» and «the cheese lay down and cried» funny?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** garlic, cheese · **What happens:** be, lie down, cry

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 59 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 4: Wayfarers All (the voyage and lunch by the road)» 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/59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road:t4:1
# text = Why are «the garlic sang» and «the cheese lay down and cried» funny?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	garlic	garlic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cheese	cheese	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
13	down	down	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
17	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the garlic |  |  |  |  | sing *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **lie down** *in a quote* | past | the cheese |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **cry** *speech: express* *in a quote* | past | the cheese *not said here* |  |  |  |  | funny *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «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 -->
Smells are told as though food could act

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road:t4:o1:1
# text = Smells are told as though food could act
1	Smells	smell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	6	case	_	_
5	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	4	fixed	_	_
6	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	act	act	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | Smells |  |  |  | as food | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **act** *not said to happen* | could | Smells *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Smells are described as if food could sing and cry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road:t4:o2:1
# text = Smells are described as if food could sing and cry
1	Smells	smell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	described	describe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	cry	cry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | present · passive |  | Smells |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* *a condition, not said to happen* | could | food |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **cry** *speech: express* | infinitive | food *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a joke about cooking

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road:t4:o3:1
# text = It is a joke about cooking
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	cooking	cooking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a joke |  |  |  | about cooking | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Food is shown as making sounds and tears

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road:t4:o4:1
# text = Food is shown as making sounds and tears
1	Food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	shown	show	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	making	make	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	amod	_	_
6	sounds	sound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present · passive |  | Food |  |  |  | as making sounds and tears | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **make** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |

<!-- 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: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, p…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road/t3/)
- next →: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, p…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road/t5/)
- ↑ back to [The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 4: Wayfarers All (the voyage and lunch by the road)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road/)