---
title: What would have happened if Balkis had not spoken to the Butterfly's… — Just So Stories, The Butterfly that St… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would have happened if Balkis had not spoken to the Butterfly's Wife? Test 3 · ★★ of lesson 97 «Just So Stories, The Butterfly that Stamped, part 2: the Butterfly stamps, Balkis is wise, and the book ends» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of 
---

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# Test 3 · ★★ · Just So Stories, The Butterfly that Stamped, part 2: the B…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would have happened if Balkis had not spoken to the Butterfly's Wife?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **What happens:** happen, not speak · **To what, where:** Balkis · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 97 «Just So Stories, The Butterfly that Stamped, part 2: the Butterfly stamps, Balkis is wise, and the book ends» 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/97-justso-butterfly-2-the-butterfly-stamps-and-the-book-ends/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:97-justso-butterfly-2-the-butterfly-stamps-and-the-book-ends:t3:1
# text = What would have happened if Balkis had not spoken to the Butterfly's Wife?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	Balkis	Balkis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Butterfly	Butterfly	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	Wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | Balkis |  |  |  | to the Butterfly's Wife | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They'd be happy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:97-justso-butterfly-2-the-butterfly-stamps-and-the-book-ends:t3:o1:1
# text = They'd be happy
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:97-justso-butterfly-2-the-butterfly-stamps-and-the-book-ends:t3:o2:1
# text = Nothing
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Queens might never have been frightened

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:97-justso-butterfly-2-the-butterfly-stamps-and-the-book-ends:t3:o3:1
# text = The Queens might never have been frightened
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Queens	queen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **frighten** | might · perfect · passive |  | the Queens |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Suleiman would never have laughed at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:97-justso-butterfly-2-the-butterfly-stamps-and-the-book-ends:t3:o4:1
# text = Suleiman would never have laughed at all
1	Suleiman	Suleiman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **laugh** | would · perfect · passive |  | Suleiman |  | all |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V NP»: subject=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: [Just So Stories, The Butterfly that St…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/97-justso-butterfly-2-the-butterfly-stamps-and-the-book-ends/t2/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, The Butterfly that St…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/97-justso-butterfly-2-the-butterfly-stamps-and-the-book-ends/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, The Butterfly that Stamped, part 2: the Butterfly stamps, Balkis is wise, and the book ends](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/97-justso-butterfly-2-the-butterfly-stamps-and-the-book-ends/)