---
title: Tegumai says «we must make the best of a bad job». What does he do? — Just So Stories, How the First Letter… · tree and pragmatics
description: Tegumai says «we must make the best of a bad job». What does he do? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 84 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question an
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1:…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tegumai says «we must make the best of a bad job». What does he do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Tegumai, we · **What happens:** say, make, do · **To what, where:** best · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 84 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark» 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/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Tegumai says «we must make the best of a bad job».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t3:1
# text = Tegumai says «we must make the best of a bad job».
1	Tegumai	Tegumai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	job	job	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Tegumai |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **make** *in a quote* | must | we | the best of a bad job |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Product |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What does he do?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t3:2
# text = What does he do?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present · do-support | Tegumai |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He sends Taffy home

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t3:o1:1
# text = He sends Taffy home
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sends	send	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | present | He | Taffy home |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent home=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

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

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t3:o2:1
# text = Sleeps
1	Sleeps	sleep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mends the spear himself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t3:o3:1
# text = Mends the spear himself
1	Mends	mend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mend** | present |  | the spear |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Goes home

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t3:o4:1
# text = Goes home
1	Goes	go	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	home	home	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .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: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/t2/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/)