---
title: What would have happened if the Elephant's Child had not leaned clos… — Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5:… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would have happened if the Elephant's Child had not leaned close to hear the whisper? Test 3 · ★ 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 3 · ★ · Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5: The Elephant's Child…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would have happened if the Elephant's Child had not leaned close to hear the whisper?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** happen, not lean, hear · **To what, where:** Child, whisper

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This is test 3 · ★ 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/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:79-justso-elephants-child-1:t3:1
# text = What would have happened if the Elephant's Child had not leaned close to hear the whisper?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Elephant	Elephant	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	Child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	leaned	lean	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
13	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	xcomp	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	whisper	whisper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **lean** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | the Elephant's Child |  |  |  | close *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **hear** | to-infinitive |  | the whisper |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer whisper=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 -->
He would still have his old short nose

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:79-justso-elephants-child-1:t3:o1:1
# text = He would still have his old short nose
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	still	still	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | would | He | his old short nose |  |  | still |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nose=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Python would have taken his bananas away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:79-justso-elephants-child-1:t3:o2:1
# text = The Python would have taken his bananas away
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	bananas	banana	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	away	away	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take away** | would · perfect · passive |  | the Python |  |  |  | away *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Crocodile would have eaten the melons

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:79-justso-elephants-child-1:t3:o3:1
# text = The Crocodile would have eaten the melons
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Crocodile	Crocodile	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	melons	melon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | would · perfect | the Crocodile | the melons |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent melon=Patient |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Crocodile could not have caught his nose

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:79-justso-elephants-child-1:t3:o4:1
# text = The Crocodile could not have caught his nose
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Crocodile	Crocodile	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux	_	_
6	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **catch** | could · perfect · passive |  | the Crocodile |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary nose=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.

<!-- /div -->

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