---
title: What would happen if the Man's house were on a hill? — Just So Stories, The Crab that Played… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if the Man's house were on a hill? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 90 «Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 1: the Eldest Magician and the sea that will not behave» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 1…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if the Man's house were on a hill?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** house · **What happens:** happen, be · **To what, where:** hill

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 90 «Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 1: the Eldest Magician and the sea that will not behave» 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/90-justso-crab-1-the-eldest-magician/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:90-justso-crab-1-the-eldest-magician:t4:1
# text = What would happen if the Man's house were on a hill?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Man	Man	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the Man's house |  |  | a hill |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The flooding sea could not wet it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:90-justso-crab-1-the-eldest-magician:t4:o1:1
# text = The flooding sea could not wet it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	flooding	flooding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	wet	wet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **wet** | could | the flooding sea | it |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be dry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:90-justso-crab-1-the-eldest-magician:t4:o2:1
# text = It would be dry
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | It |  |  |  |  | dry *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The flooding sea could not wet it, so the Man would stay dry and the Magician could sleep

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:90-justso-crab-1-the-eldest-magician:t4:o3:1
# text = The flooding sea could not wet it, so the Man would stay dry and the Magician could sleep
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	flooding	flooding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	wet	wet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
14	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Magician	magician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **wet** | could | the flooding sea | it |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 2 | **stay** | would | the Man |  |  |  |  | dry *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **sleep** | could | the Magician |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The flooding sea could not wet it, and the mud would stay down in the valley below

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:90-justso-crab-1-the-eldest-magician:t4:o4:1
# text = The flooding sea could not wet it, and the mud would stay down in the valley below
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	flooding	flooding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	wet	wet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
14	down	down	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	valley	valley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
18	below	below	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **wet** | could | the flooding sea | it |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 2 | **stay down** | would | the mud |  |  | the valley |  | down *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in valley=Location |

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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, The Crab that Played…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/90-justso-crab-1-the-eldest-magician/t3/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, The Crab that Played…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/90-justso-crab-1-the-eldest-magician/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 1: the Eldest Magician and the sea that will not behave](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/90-justso-crab-1-the-eldest-magician/)