---
title: Looking back: in the last story, Taffy borrowed a shark's tooth to d… — Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was… · tree and pragmatics
description: Looking back: in the last story, Taffy borrowed a shark's tooth to draw. What does Tegumai use to scratch on bark here? Test 13 · ★ of lesson 87 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp-fish's mouth, a tail, an egg and a snake» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with th
---

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# Test 13 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Looking back: in the last story, Taffy borrowed a shark's tooth to draw. What does Tegumai use to scratch on bark here?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Taffy, Tegumai · **What happens:** look back, borrow, draw, use, scratch · **To what, where:** tooth, bark

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 13 · ★ of lesson 87 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp-fish's mouth, a tail, an egg and a snake» 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/87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth/#t13).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Looking back: in the last story, Taffy borrowed a shark's tooth to draw.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth:t13:1
# text = Looking back: in the last story, Taffy borrowed a shark's tooth to draw.
1	Looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
2	back	back	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
9	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	borrowed	borrow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	draw	draw	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look back** | gerund | Taffy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in the last story | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in story=Theme |
| 2 | **borrow** | past | Taffy | a shark's tooth |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tooth=Theme |
| 3 | **draw** | to-infinitive | Taffy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 Tegumai use to scratch on bark here?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth:t13:2
# text = What does Tegumai use to scratch on bark here?
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	Tegumai	Tegumai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	scratch	scratch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
9	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present · do-support | Tegumai |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Patient |
| 2 | **scratch** | to-infinitive | Tegumai *not said here* |  |  | bark; here |  |  | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent on bark=Location |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A red ochre stone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth:t13:o1:1
# text = A red ochre stone
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	ochre	ochre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A shark's tooth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth:t13:o2:1
# text = A shark's tooth
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A flint

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth:t13:o3:1
# text = A flint
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	flint	flint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A bone needle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth:t13:o4:1
# text = A bone needle
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	bone	bone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	needle	needle	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: [Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth/t12/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was…, test 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth/t14/)
- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp-fish's mouth, a tail, an egg and a snake](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth/)