---
title: What did the thieves believe the vinegar to be when it fell upon them? — Household Tales, Frederick and Catheri… · tree and pragmatics
description: What did the thieves believe the vinegar to be when it fell upon them? Exam question 2 of lesson 753 «Household Tales, Frederick and Catherine: the door falls on the thieves» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mov
---

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# Exam question 2 · Household Tales, Frederick and Catherine: the door falls o…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What did the thieves believe the vinegar to be when it fell upon them?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** thieves, vinegar · **What happens:** do, believe, be · **To what, where:** vinegar

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 753 «Household Tales, Frederick and Catherine: the door falls on the thieves» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/753-pg2591-part29/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:753-pg2591-part29:e2:1
# text = What did the thieves believe the vinegar to be when it fell upon them?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	thieves	thief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	believe	believe	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	vinegar	vinegar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	cop	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
13	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **believe** | present | the thieves | the vinegar |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer vinegar=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is** | to-infinitive | vinegar |  |  |  |  | upon thieves *= thief*; fall *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 -->
rain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:753-pg2591-part29:e2:o1:1
# text = rain
1	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a heavy dew

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:753-pg2591-part29:e2:o2:1
# text = a heavy dew
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	dew	dew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
ale

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:753-pg2591-part29:e2:o3:1
# text = ale
1	ale	ale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
sour milk

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:753-pg2591-part29:e2:o4:1
# text = sour milk
1	sour	sour	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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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