---
title: What did Ole say of the boulders, and of his own relation to them? — Andersen's Tales, Ole the Tower-Keeper… · tree and pragmatics
description: What did Ole say of the boulders, and of his own relation to them? Exam question 3 of lesson 929 «Andersen's Tales, Ole the Tower-Keeper, part 140: Ole talks about boulders, the wild ride to Amack and falling stars» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatic
---

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# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, Ole the Tower-Keeper, part 140: Ole talk…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What did Ole say of the boulders, and of his own relation to them?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Ole · **What happens:** say · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 929 «Andersen's Tales, Ole the Tower-Keeper, part 140: Ole talks about boulders, the wild ride to Amack and falling stars» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/929-pg27200-part140/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:929-pg27200-part140:e3:1
# text = What did Ole say of the boulders, and of his own relation to them?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	Ole	Ole	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	boulders	boulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	relation	relation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · do-support | Ole |  |  |  |  | of the boulders; of Ole's own relation to boulders | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
they were rare and old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:929-pg27200-part140:e3:o1:1
# text = they were rare and old
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	rare	rare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | they |  |  |  |  | rare *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | they *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they were rare old fellows, and he had passed them carelessly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:929-pg27200-part140:e3:o2:1
# text = they were rare old fellows, and he had passed them carelessly
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	rare	rare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	fellows	fellow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	acl	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	carelessly	carelessly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | they | rare old fellows |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | past · perfect | he | fellows *= fellow* |  |  |  | carelessly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Trajectory |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they were strange, and he had barely noticed them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:929-pg27200-part140:e3:o3:1
# text = they were strange, and he had barely noticed them
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	barely	barely	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	noticed	notice	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | they |  |  |  |  | strange *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **notice** | past · perfect | he | them *= they* |  |  |  | barely *property* | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they were old stones, and he had ignored them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:929-pg27200-part140:e3:o4:1
# text = they were old stones, and he had ignored them
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	ignored	ignore	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	acl:relcl	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | they | old stones |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ignore** | past · perfect | he | stones *= stone* |  |  |  |  | vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Andersen's Tales, Ole the Tower-Keeper…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/929-pg27200-part140/e2/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, Ole the Tower-Keeper…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/929-pg27200-part140/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, Ole the Tower-Keeper, part 140: Ole talks about boulders, the wild ride to Amack and falling stars](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/929-pg27200-part140/)

