---
title: the old rat with the chopped tail, was he the boss? — Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28:… · tree and pragmatics
description: the old rat with the chopped tail, was he the boss? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 817 «Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28: the Dryad follows strangers down into the Paris sewers» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28: the Dryad follows st…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the old rat with the chopped tail, was he the boss?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** old rat · **What happens:** chop, be · **To what, where:** boss

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This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 817 «Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28: the Dryad follows strangers down into the Paris sewers» 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/817-pg27200-part28/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:817-pg27200-part28:t8:1
# text = the old rat with the chopped tail, was he the boss?
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	chopped	chop	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	boss	boss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chop** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the old rat with the chopped tail | the boss |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
yeah, the others agreed with him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:817-pg27200-part28:t8:o1:1
# text = yeah, the others agreed with him
1	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | the others |  |  |  |  | with him *= he* | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent how S»: agent=Agent with he=Co-Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yeah, he was the boss

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:817-pg27200-part28:t8:o2:1
# text = yeah, he was the boss
1	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	boss	boss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | he | the boss |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yeah, his family backed up every word he said

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:817-pg27200-part28:t8:o3:1
# text = yeah, his family backed up every word he said
1	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	backed	back	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **back up** | participle | his family | every word |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | family | every word *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
no, just an old rat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:817-pg27200-part28:t8:o4:1
# text = no, just an old rat
1	no	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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 Dryad, part 28:…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/817-pg27200-part28/t7/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28:…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/817-pg27200-part28/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28: the Dryad follows strangers down into the Paris sewers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/817-pg27200-part28/)