---
title: wait, why did mamma buy thirty newspapers, lol? — Andersen, The Sculptor's Bride, part 8… · tree and pragmatics
description: wait, why did mamma buy thirty newspapers, lol? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 797 «Andersen, The Sculptor's Bride, part 8: Kaela dies and Alfred weds Sophy» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 2 · ★ · Andersen, The Sculptor's Bride, part 8: Kaela dies and Alf…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
wait, why did mamma buy thirty newspapers, lol?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, mamma · **What happens:** wait, buy · **To what, where:** thirty newspapers

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 797 «Andersen, The Sculptor's Bride, part 8: Kaela dies and Alfred weds Sophy» 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/797-pg27200-part8/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:797-pg27200-part8:t2:1
# text = wait, why did mamma buy thirty newspapers, lol?
1	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	mamma	mamma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	buy	buy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
7	thirty	thirty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	newspapers	newspaper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
10	lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	1	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **buy** | past · do-support | mamma | thirty newspapers |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent newspaper=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 -->
because she wanted the whole town to know about the engagement and the wedding date

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:797-pg27200-part8:t2:o1:1
# text = because she wanted the whole town to know about the engagement and the wedding date
1	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
9	about	about	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	engagement	engagement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	wedding	wedding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	date	date	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | she | the whole town |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the whole town *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about the engagement and the wedding date | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer about engagement=Stimulus |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to spread the news about it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:797-pg27200-part8:t2:o2:1
# text = to spread the news about it
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	spread	spread	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | to-infinitive |  | the news |  |  |  | about news | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent news=Theme about it=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to get a good discount

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:797-pg27200-part8:t2:o3:1
# text = to get a good discount
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	get	get	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	discount	discount	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | to-infinitive |  | a good discount |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer discount=Stimulus |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
to flex the news on her mates

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:797-pg27200-part8:t2:o4:1
# text = to flex the news on her mates
1	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	flex	flex	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	mates	mate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flex** | to-infinitive |  | the news |  | her mates |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent news=Patient |

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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: [Andersen, The Sculptor's Bride, part 8…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/797-pg27200-part8/t1/)
- next →: [Andersen, The Sculptor's Bride, part 8…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/797-pg27200-part8/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen, The Sculptor's Bride, part 8: Kaela dies and Alfred weds Sophy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/797-pg27200-part8/)