---
title: bro, what did the earwig babies nip with their tails? — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Beetle Who… · tree and pragmatics
description: bro, what did the earwig babies nip with their tails? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 798 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Beetle Who Went on His Travels: a vain beetle wants golden shoes and finds only mud» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and o
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/798-pg27200-part9/t9/)

<!-- 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's Fairy Tales, The Beetle Who…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/798-pg27200-part9/) / t9

# Test 9 · ★ · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Beetle Who Went on His Travels…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
bro, what did the earwig babies nip with their tails?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** earwig babies · **What happens:** do, nip

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 798 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Beetle Who Went on His Travels: a vain beetle wants golden shoes and finds only mud» 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/798-pg27200-part9/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:798-pg27200-part9:t9:1
# text = bro, what did the earwig babies nip with their tails?
1	bro	bro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	earwig	earwig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	nip	nip	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  | bro *vocative* | tree rules |
| 2 | **nip** | present | the earwig babies |  |  |  |  | with babies's tails | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

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

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:798-pg27200-part9:t9:o1:1
# text = Tails
1	Tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The frogs' long legs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:798-pg27200-part9:t9:o2:1
# text = The frogs' long legs
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	frogs	frog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	'	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The beetle's beard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:798-pg27200-part9:t9:o3:1
# text = The beetle's beard
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	beetle	beetle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	beard	beard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its feet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:798-pg27200-part9:t9:o4:1
# text = Its feet
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

<!-- 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's Fairy Tales, The Beetle Who…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/798-pg27200-part9/t8/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Beetle Who…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/798-pg27200-part9/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Beetle Who Went on His Travels: a vain beetle wants golden shoes and finds only mud](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/798-pg27200-part9/)