---
title: yo, why did they burn tails in the fire? — Andersen's Fairy Tales, Soup from a Sa… · tree and pragmatics
description: yo, why did they burn tails in the fire? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 990 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, Soup from a Sausage Skewer, part 201: the elves' glittering maypole and feast, the violet staff and noisy kitchen, then the second mouse sets out to become a poet» of the books course of Mova's primary school,
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Andersen's Fairy Tales, Soup from a Sausage Skewer, part 2…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
yo, why did they burn tails in the fire?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** they · **What happens:** burn · **To what, where:** tails, fire

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 990 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, Soup from a Sausage Skewer, part 201: the elves' glittering maypole and feast, the violet staff and noisy kitchen, then the second mouse sets out to become a poet» 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/990-pg27200-part201/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:990-pg27200-part201:t7:1
# text = yo, why did they burn tails in the fire?
1	yo	yo	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	burn	burn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burn** | past · do-support | they | tails |  | the fire |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent tail=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
the perfume was too strong and it stank up the whole place, so he wanted burning

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:990-pg27200-part201:t7:o1:1
# text = the perfume was too strong and it stank up the whole place, so he wanted burning
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	perfume	perfume	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	stank	stink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
9	up	up	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
17	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the perfume |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **stink up** | past | perfume | the whole place |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **want** | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **burn** *not said to happen* | gerund | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the perfume was too strong, it stank

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:990-pg27200-part201:t7:o2:1
# text = the perfume was too strong, it stank
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	perfume	perfume	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	stank	stink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the perfume |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **stink** | past | perfume |  |  |  |  |  | vn smell\_emission-43.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the violet perfume was too strong, it stank so bad the mice wanted burning smell instead

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:990-pg27200-part201:t7:o3:1
# text = the violet perfume was too strong, it stank so bad the mice wanted burning smell instead
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	violet	violet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	perfume	perfume	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	stank	stink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
14	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
15	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	amod	_	_
16	smell	smell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the violet perfume |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **stink** | past | perfume |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | vn smell\_emission-43.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **want** | past | the mice | burning smell |  |  |  | instead *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot smell=Theme |
| 4 | **burn** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the smell of soup was too thick

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:990-pg27200-part201:t7:o4:1
# text = the smell of soup was too thick
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	smell	smell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	soup	soup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the smell of soup |  |  |  |  | thick *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **smell** |  | soup |  |  |  |  |  | nom smell «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- 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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