---
title: Mate, what was the bird's song all about? — Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mate, what was the bird's song all about? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 943 «Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, part 1: a singing-bird dies, and a porter's boy saves a nursery from fire» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option;
---

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# Test 2 · ★ · Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, part 1: a singing-bird…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mate, what was the bird's song all about?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Mate · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** song

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 943 «Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, part 1: a singing-bird dies, and a porter's boy saves a nursery from fire» 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/943-pg27200-part154/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:943-pg27200-part154:t2:1
# text = Mate, what was the bird's song all about?
1	Mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
9	all	all	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	about	about	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Mate and the bird's song | the bird's song |  |  |  | about *property* | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
dew-drops glitter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:943-pg27200-part154:t2:o1:1
# text = dew-drops glitter
1	dew	dew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	drops	drop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	glitter	glitter	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **glitter** | present | dew drops |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
morning light glows

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:943-pg27200-part154:t2:o2:1
# text = morning light glows
1	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	glows	glow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **glow** | present | morning light |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the sun shines

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:943-pg27200-part154:t2:o3:1
# text = the sun shines
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	shines	shine	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shine** | present | the sun |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
dew-drops glitter on the green grass

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:943-pg27200-part154:t2:o4:1
# text = dew-drops glitter on the green grass
1	dew	dew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	drops	drop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	glitter	glitter	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **glitter** | present | dew drops |  |  | the green grass |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on grass=Location |

<!-- div src -->

**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, The Porter's Son, pa…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/943-pg27200-part154/t1/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, pa…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/943-pg27200-part154/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Porter's Son, part 1: a singing-bird dies, and a porter's boy saves a nursery from fire](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/943-pg27200-part154/)