---
title: The wild swans were the bad news birds, right? — Andersen, The Philosopher's Stone, par… · tree and pragmatics
description: The wild swans were the bad news birds, right? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 939 «Andersen, The Philosopher's Stone, part 150: the Seer's eyes are clouded, the Hearer's ears burst, and the third brother sets out» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the que
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Andersen, The Philosopher's Stone, part 150: the Seer's ey…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wild swans were the bad news birds, right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** wild swans · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** bad news birds

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 939 «Andersen, The Philosopher's Stone, part 150: the Seer's eyes are clouded, the Hearer's ears burst, and the third brother sets out» 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/939-pg27200-part150/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:939-pg27200-part150:t7:1
# text = The wild swans were the bad news birds, right?
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	swans	swan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	right	right	INTJ	UH	_	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the wild swans | the bad news birds |  |  |  |  | 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nah, they flew all over the place and carried every tiding home to the family, lol

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:939-pg27200-part150:t7:o1:1
# text = Nah, they flew all over the place and carried every tiding home to the family, lol
1	Nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	all	all	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	over	over	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	tiding	tiding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	home	home	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
18	lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past | they | the place |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location place=Theme |
| 2 | **carry** | past | they *not said here* | every tiding |  | the family |  | home *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent tiding=Theme to family=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yep, they flew east and carried the tidings of the Seer's blindness back home to everyone

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:939-pg27200-part150:t7:o2:1
# text = Yep, they flew east and carried the tidings of the Seer's blindness back home to everyone
1	Yep	yep	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	east	east	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	tidings	tiding	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Seer	seer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	blindness	blindness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
15	back	back	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	home	home	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past | they |  |  |  |  | east *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **carry** | past | they *not said here* | the tidings of the Seer's blindness | everyone |  |  | home *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent tiding=Theme to everyone=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yep, they flew north and brought sad news

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:939-pg27200-part150:t7:o3:1
# text = Yep, they flew north and brought sad news
1	Yep	yep	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	north	north	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past | they |  |  |  |  | north *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **bring** | past | they *not said here* | sad news |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent news=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yep, they flew east and carried the tidings home

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:939-pg27200-part150:t7:o4:1
# text = Yep, they flew east and carried the tidings home
1	Yep	yep	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	east	east	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	tidings	tiding	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	home	home	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past | they |  |  |  |  | east *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **carry** | past | they *not said here* | the tidings |  |  |  | home *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tiding=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.

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- ← previous: [Andersen, The Philosopher's Stone, par…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/939-pg27200-part150/t6/)
- next →: [Andersen, The Philosopher's Stone, par…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/939-pg27200-part150/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen, The Philosopher's Stone, part 150: the Seer's eyes are clouded, the Hearer's ears burst, and the third brother sets out](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/939-pg27200-part150/)