---
title: Did the sparrows say anything useful? — Andersen's Tales, The Bird of Popular… · tree and pragmatics
description: Did the sparrows say anything useful? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 802 «Andersen's Tales, The Bird of Popular Song, part 13: the singer wakes the king's spirit, the Bird of Song flies out, and we arrive at Borglum» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the 
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · Andersen's Tales, The Bird of Popular Song, part 13: the s…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Did the sparrows say anything useful?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** sparrows · **What happens:** say · **To what, where:** anything · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 802 «Andersen's Tales, The Bird of Popular Song, part 13: the singer wakes the king's spirit, the Bird of Song flies out, and we arrive at Borglum» 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/802-pg27200-part13/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:802-pg27200-part13:t5:1
# text = Did the sparrows say anything useful?
1	Did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
6	useful	useful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the sparrows | anything |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent anything=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Piep, piep, piep, mate, so the town's buried under snow and the bells are silent now

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:802-pg27200-part13:t5:o1:1
# text = Piep, piep, piep, mate, so the town's buried under snow and the bells are silent now
1	Piep	Piep	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	piep	piep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	piep	piep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
14	under	under	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	bells	bell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	_
19	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
21	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bury** | participle |  | Piep piep and piep and mate *not said here* |  | snow and the bells |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent under snow=Destination |
| 2 | **is** | present | Piep piep and piep and mate |  |  |  | now | silent *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nah, they just piep and fly off, mate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:802-pg27200-part13:t5:o2:1
# text = Nah, they just piep and fly off, mate
1	Nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	piep	piep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	fly	fly	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
8	off	off	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
10	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	vocative	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **piep** | present | they |  |  |  |  | mate *vocative* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fly off** | present | they *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Piep piep, they said, the church is gone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:802-pg27200-part13:t5:o3:1
# text = Piep piep, they said, the church is gone
1	Piep	Piep	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	piep	piep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	gone	gone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Piep piep |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | the church |  |  |  |  | gone *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Piep, piep, piep, mate, so the town's buried

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:802-pg27200-part13:t5:o4:1
# text = Piep, piep, piep, mate, so the town's buried
1	Piep	Piep	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	piep	piep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	piep	piep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bury** | participle |  | Piep *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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.

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- ← previous: [Andersen's Tales, The Bird of Popular…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/802-pg27200-part13/t4/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Bird of Popular…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/802-pg27200-part13/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Bird of Popular Song, part 13: the singer wakes the king's spirit, the Bird of Song flies out, and we arrive at Borglum](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/802-pg27200-part13/)