---
title: was the birch proper quick, or nah? — Andersen's Tales, The Old Oak Tree's L… · tree and pragmatics
description: was the birch proper quick, or nah? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 867 «Andersen's Tales, The Old Oak Tree's Last Dream: a Christmas storm uproots the oak as he dreams of summer and of all the small plants rising up with him» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatic
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/867-pg27200-part78/t4/)

<!-- 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 Tales, The Old Oak Tree's L…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/867-pg27200-part78/) / t4

# Test 4 · ★ · Andersen's Tales, The Old Oak Tree's Last Dream: a Christm…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
was the birch proper quick, or nah?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** birch · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 867 «Andersen's Tales, The Old Oak Tree's Last Dream: a Christmas storm uproots the oak as he dreams of summer and of all the small plants rising up with him» 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/867-pg27200-part78/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:867-pg27200-part78:t4:1
# text = was the birch proper quick, or nah?
1	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
4	proper	properly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	quick	quick	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	1	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | the birch |  |  |  |  | quick *property* | vn exist-47.1 «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 -->
very slowly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:867-pg27200-part78:t4:o1:1
# text = very slowly
1	very	very	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
straight as a rod

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:867-pg27200-part78:t4:o2:1
# text = straight as a rod
1	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	as	as	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	rod	rod	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
like lightning, zigzag up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:867-pg27200-part78:t4:o3:1
# text = like lightning, zigzag up
1	like	like	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	lightning	lightning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	zigzag	zigzag	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **zigzag up** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | like lightning | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
quick as a sparrow hop

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:867-pg27200-part78:t4:o4:1
# text = quick as a sparrow hop
1	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	sparrow	sparrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	hop	hop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .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 Tales, The Old Oak Tree's L…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/867-pg27200-part78/t3/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Old Oak Tree's L…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/867-pg27200-part78/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Old Oak Tree's Last Dream: a Christmas storm uproots the oak as he dreams of summer and of all the small plants rising up with him](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/867-pg27200-part78/)