---
title: Ngl, why did John say babies are poison to dragons? — Book of Dragons, The Blacksmith and th… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ngl, why did John say babies are poison to dragons? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 651 «Book of Dragons, The Blacksmith and the Dragon, part 2: John finds a dragon in the dungeon and chains it up with his baby as a pledge» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics o
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Book of Dragons, The Blacksmith and the Dragon, part 2: Jo…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ngl, why did John say babies are poison to dragons?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** John, babies · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** poison · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 651 «Book of Dragons, The Blacksmith and the Dragon, part 2: John finds a dragon in the dungeon and chains it up with his baby as a pledge» 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/651-pg23661-part19/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:651-pg23661-part19:t9:1
# text = Ngl, why did John say babies are poison to dragons?
1	Ngl	Ngl	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	poison	poison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · do-support | John |  |  |  |  | Ngl *vocative* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | babies | poison |  |  |  | to dragons | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to stop it eating the baby

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:651-pg23661-part19:t9:o1:1
# text = to stop it eating the baby
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stop	stop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | to-infinitive |  | it |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **eat** | gerund |  | the baby |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent baby=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to stop it from licking the baby with its hot tongue and burning it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:651-pg23661-part19:t9:o2:1
# text = to stop it from licking the baby with its hot tongue and burning it
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stop	stop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	licking	lick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | to-infinitive |  | it |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality it=Eventuality |
| 2 | **lick** | gerund |  | the baby |  |  |  | with baby's hot tongue | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent baby=Experiencer with tongue=Instrument |
| 3 | **burn** | gerund |  | baby |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to stop it putting the baby in its mouth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:651-pg23661-part19:t9:o3:1
# text = to stop it putting the baby in its mouth
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stop	stop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	putting	put	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	xcomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | to-infinitive |  | it |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **put** | gerund |  | the baby |  | baby's mouth |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent baby=Theme in mouth=Destination |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
because a baby might make it sick and then it would blame him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:651-pg23661-part19:t9:o4:1
# text = because a baby might make it sick and then it would blame him
1	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	blame	blame	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | might | a baby | it |  |  |  | sick *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product |
| 2 | **blame** | would | baby | him *= he* |  |  | then |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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