---
title: What was the sole human utterance of the parrot? — Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fort… · tree and pragmatics
description: What was the sole human utterance of the parrot? Exam question 2 of lesson 841 «Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the clerk, now a lark, is bought and placed in a lady's cage» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and 
---

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# Exam question 2 · Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the cl…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What was the sole human utterance of the parrot?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** sole human utterance · **What happens:** be, utter · **To what, where:** parrot

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 841 «Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the clerk, now a lark, is bought and placed in a lady's cage» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/841-pg27200-part52/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e2:1
# text = What was the sole human utterance of the parrot?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	sole	sole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	utterance	utterance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	parrot	parrot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the sole human utterance of the parrot |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **utter** |  |  | the parrot |  |  |  |  | nom utterance «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
"Hello there"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e2:o1:1
# text = "Hello there"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Hello	hello	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	_
3	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Be men."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e2:o2:1
# text = "Be men."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	cop	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* | men |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Now let us dance."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e2:o3:1
# text = "Now let us dance."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* | us |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **dance** *in a quote* | infinitive | us *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Now let us be men."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e2:o4:1
# text = "Now let us be men."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
6	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* | us |  |  | now |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | men |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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 Goloshes of Fort…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/841-pg27200-part52/e1/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fort…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/841-pg27200-part52/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the clerk, now a lark, is bought and placed in a lady's cage](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/841-pg27200-part52/)