---
title: What does the old man want the boy to tell him? — Fairy Tales, The Little Elder-Tree Mot… · tree and pragmatics
description: What does the old man want the boy to tell him? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 871 «Fairy Tales, The Little Elder-Tree Mother, part 82: Little Claus tricks Great Claus into the river, and an old man begins a story from the teapot» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and prag
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Fairy Tales, The Little Elder-Tree Mother, part 82: Little…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What does the old man want the boy to tell him?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** old man, boy · **What happens:** want, tell · **To what, where:** boy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 871 «Fairy Tales, The Little Elder-Tree Mother, part 82: Little Claus tricks Great Claus into the river, and an old man begins a story from the teapot» 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/871-pg27200-part82/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:871-pg27200-part82:t7:1
# text = What does the old man want the boy to tell him?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | present · do-support | the old man | the boy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the boy *not said here* |  | boy |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
Who his best mate is at school

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:871-pg27200-part82:t7:o1:1
# text = Who his best mate is at school
1	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	amod	_	_
4	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | his best mate |  |  | school |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What he got for his birthday

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:871-pg27200-part82:t7:o2:1
# text = What he got for his birthday
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	obj	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	birthday	birthday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | he |  |  |  |  | for his birthday | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent what=Theme for birthday=Source |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Where he hid his football

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:871-pg27200-part82:t7:o3:1
# text = Where he hid his football
1	Where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	hid	hide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	football	football	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | past | he | his football |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent football=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How deep the gutter is in his street

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:871-pg27200-part82:t7:o4:1
# text = How deep the gutter is in his street
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	gutter	gutter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the deep gutter |  |  | his street |  |  | 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: [Fairy Tales, The Little Elder-Tree Mot…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/871-pg27200-part82/t6/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales, The Little Elder-Tree Mot…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/871-pg27200-part82/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Tales, The Little Elder-Tree Mother, part 82: Little Claus tricks Great Claus into the river, and an old man begins a story from the teapot](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/871-pg27200-part82/)