---
title: ain't it dead funny the Sultan and Subida argued over who was dead? — Eastern Tales, Abu Nowas, part 47: Abu… · tree and pragmatics
description: ain't it dead funny the Sultan and Subida argued over who was dead? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 707 «Eastern Tales, Abu Nowas, part 47: Abu Nowas fakes his wife's death and tricks the Sultan out of gold» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question a
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · Eastern Tales, Abu Nowas, part 47: Abu Nowas fakes his wif…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
ain't it dead funny the Sultan and Subida argued over who was dead?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** ai · **What happens:** argue, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 707 «Eastern Tales, Abu Nowas, part 47: Abu Nowas fakes his wife's death and tricks the Sultan out of gold» 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/707-pg2435-part47/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:707-pg2435-part47:t5:1
# text = ain't it dead funny the Sultan and Subida argued over who was dead?
1	ai	ai	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	acl:relcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	Subida	Subida	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
10	argued	argue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	over	over	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **argue** *speech: disagree* | past | ai |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | 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 -->
nah, they were quite sensible about it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:707-pg2435-part47:t5:o1:1
# text = nah, they were quite sensible about it
1	nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	sensible	sensible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | they |  |  |  |  | about it; sensible *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yeah, they were well daft about it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:707-pg2435-part47:t5:o2:1
# text = yeah, they were well daft about it
1	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
6	daft	daft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | they |  |  |  |  | about it; daft, well *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yeah, they were well daft about it, arguing for ages over who had to be dead

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:707-pg2435-part47:t5:o3:1
# text = yeah, they were well daft about it, arguing for ages over who had to be dead
1	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
6	daft	daft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	arguing	argue	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	ages	age	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
13	over	over	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
18	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | they |  |  |  |  | about it; daft, well *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **argue** *speech: disagree* | gerund | they *not said here* |  |  |  | for ages |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **have** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yeah, they were so daft, the Sultan even offered gold to the one who was right

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:707-pg2435-part47:t5:o4:1
# text = yeah, they were so daft, the Sultan even offered gold to the one who was right
1	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	daft	daft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	even	even	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	offered	offer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
12	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | they |  |  |  |  | daft *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **offer** | past | the Sultan | gold | the one |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent gold=Theme to one=Goal |
| 3 | **is** | past | the one |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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