---
title: lowkey, what did the sailors think the mermaids' singing was? — Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: lowkey, what did the sailors think the mermaids' singing was? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 877 «Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each op
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid save…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
lowkey, what did the sailors think the mermaids' singing was?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** lowkey, sailors, singing, mermaids · **What happens:** do, think, be, sing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 877 «Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm» 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/877-pg27200-part88/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:t4:1
# text = lowkey, what did the sailors think the mermaids' singing was?
1	lowkey	lowkey	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sailors	sailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	mermaids	mermaid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	'	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	singing	singing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | lowkey |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | present | the sailors |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **be** | past | the mermaids's singing |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **sing** |  | the mermaids |  |  |  |  |  | nom singing «act transitive»: poss=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a storm's howl

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:t4:o1:1
# text = a storm's howl
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	howl	howl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **howl** |  | a storm |  |  |  |  |  | nom howl «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the howl of a great storm at sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:t4:o2:1
# text = the howl of a great storm at sea
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	howl	howl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **howl** |  | a great storm at sea |  |  |  |  |  | nom howl «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a storm's howl coming from the wild sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:t4:o3:1
# text = a storm's howl coming from the wild sea
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	howl	howl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	coming	come	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | gerund | a storm's howl *not said here* |  |  | the wild sea |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from sea=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **howl** |  | a storm |  |  |  |  |  | nom howl «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the sea's roar

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:t4:o4:1
# text = the sea's roar
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	roar	roar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roar** |  | the sea |  |  |  |  |  | nom roar «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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 Mermaid, part…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/t3/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/)