---
title: «I dare say it is, ma'am!» What does «I dare say» mean here? — The Wind in the Willows, chapter X, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: «I dare say it is, ma'am!» What does «I dare say» mean here? Test 2 · ★★ of lesson 61 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter X, part 1: The Further Adventures of Toad (free, the canal and the barge-woman's washing)» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of 
---

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# Test 2 · ★★ · The Wind in the Willows, chapter X, part 1: The Further Ad…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«I dare say it is, ma'am!» What does «I dare say» mean here?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** I, it · **What happens:** say, be, mean · **To what, where:** ma'am · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 2 · ★★ of lesson 61 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter X, part 1: The Further Adventures of Toad (free, the canal and the barge-woman's washing)» 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/61-willows-ch10-part1-the-barge-woman/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «I dare say it is, ma'am!»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:61-willows-ch10-part1-the-barge-woman:t2:1
# text = «I dare say it is, ma'am!»
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	dare	dare	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	ma'am	ma'am	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: express* *in a quote* | dare | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | it | ma'am |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What does «I dare say» mean here?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:61-willows-ch10-part1-the-barge-woman:t2:2
# text = What does «I dare say» mean here?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	dare	dare	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
8	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
9	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | dare · present · do-support | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 2 | **mean** | infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  | here |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I know

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:61-willows-ch10-part1-the-barge-woman:t2:o1:1
# text = I know
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I suppose

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:61-willows-ch10-part1-the-barge-woman:t2:o2:1
# text = I suppose
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	suppose	suppose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suppose** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I am sure

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:61-willows-ch10-part1-the-barge-woman:t2:o3:1
# text = I am sure
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I doubt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:61-willows-ch10-part1-the-barge-woman:t2:o4:1
# text = I doubt
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	doubt	doubt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **doubt** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ↑ back to [The Wind in the Willows, chapter X, part 1: The Further Adventures of Toad (free, the canal and the barge-woman's washing)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/61-willows-ch10-part1-the-barge-woman/)