---
title: Ethan says: "The Elephant's Child was a naughty kid who never said p… — Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5:… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ethan says: "The Elephant's Child was a naughty kid who never said please." Put him right. Test 1 · ★ of lesson 79 «Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5: The Elephant's Child, part 1 (What does the Crocodile have for dinner?)» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree an
---

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# Test 1 · ★ · Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5: The Elephant's Child…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ethan says: "The Elephant's Child was a naughty kid who never said please." Put him right.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Ethan, Child, naughty kid, you · **What happens:** say, be, not say, put · **To what, where:** naughty kid, Child · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 79 «Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5: The Elephant's Child, part 1 (What does the Crocodile have for dinner?)» 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/79-justso-elephants-child-1/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Ethan says: "The Elephant's Child was a naughty kid who never said please."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:79-justso-elephants-child-1:t1:1
# text = Ethan says: "The Elephant's Child was a naughty kid who never said please."
1	Ethan	Ethan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Elephant	Elephant	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	Child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	naughty	naughty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	kid	kid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	dep	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
14	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
16	please	please	INTJ	UH	_	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Ethan |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | the Elephant's Child | a naughty kid |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | a naughty kid |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent please=Topic |

<!-- .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:* Put him right.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:79-justso-elephants-child-1:t1:2
# text = Put him right.
1	Put	put	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	right	right	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** | imperative | you *not said here* |  | Child |  |  | right *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent he=Goal |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was always most polite, saying "'Scuse me"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:79-justso-elephants-child-1:t1:o1:1
# text = He was always most polite, saying "'Scuse me"
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
4	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	5	advmod	_	_
5	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Scuse	scuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
11	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | He |  |  |  |  | always, polite *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **scuse** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was rude

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:79-justso-elephants-child-1:t1:o2:1
# text = He was rude
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	rude	rude	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was always rude and never said sorry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:79-justso-elephants-child-1:t1:o3:1
# text = He was always rude and never said sorry
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	rude	rude	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | He |  |  |  |  | always, rude *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **say** *speech: apologize* | past | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  | sorry *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was very naughty

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:79-justso-elephants-child-1:t1:o4:1
# text = He was very naughty
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	naughty	naughty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | He |  |  |  |  | naughty *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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- ← previous: [Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 4:…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/78-justso-leopard-spots-2/e4/)
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- ↑ back to [Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5: The Elephant's Child, part 1 (What does the Crocodile have for dinner?)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/79-justso-elephants-child-1/)