---
title: what was the skipper doing while the boy steered, bro? — Andersen, Anne Lisbeth, part 3: the an… · tree and pragmatics
description: what was the skipper doing while the boy steered, bro? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 792 «Andersen, Anne Lisbeth, part 3: the angel's flower and the neglected boy who goes to sea» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/792-pg27200-part3/t8/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Andersen, Anne Lisbeth, part 3: the an…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/792-pg27200-part3/) / t8

# Test 8 · ★ · Andersen, Anne Lisbeth, part 3: the angel's flower and the…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
what was the skipper doing while the boy steered, bro?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 792 «Andersen, Anne Lisbeth, part 3: the angel's flower and the neglected boy who goes to sea» 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/792-pg27200-part3/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:792-pg27200-part3:t8:1
# text = what was the skipper doing while the boy steered, bro?
1	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	skipper	skipper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
6	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	steered	steer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	bro	bro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the skipper |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | gerund | the skipper *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **steer** | past | the boy | bro |  |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bro=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
slept below

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:792-pg27200-part3:t8:o1:1
# text = slept below
1	slept	sleep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	below	below	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sleep** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | below *property* | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
sat over the grog-can

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:792-pg27200-part3:t8:o2:1
# text = sat over the grog-can
1	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	over	over	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	grog	grog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past |  |  |  | the grog |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over grog=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
smoked a pipe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:792-pg27200-part3:t8:o3:1
# text = smoked a pipe
1	smoked	smoke	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	pipe	pipe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smoke** | past |  | a pipe |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent pipe=Source |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
was asleep in his bunk

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:792-pg27200-part3:t8:o4:1
# text = was asleep in his bunk
1	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	cop	_	_
2	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	bunk	bunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

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

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Andersen, Anne Lisbeth, part 3: the an…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/792-pg27200-part3/t7/)
- next →: [Andersen, Anne Lisbeth, part 3: the an…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/792-pg27200-part3/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen, Anne Lisbeth, part 3: the angel's flower and the neglected boy who goes to sea](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/792-pg27200-part3/)