---
title: Tom from Texas: "Y'all fixin' to eat?" ("Fixin' to" means about to.)… — Direct speech: inverted commas and new… · tree and pragmatics
description: Tom from Texas: "Y'all fixin' to eat?" ("Fixin' to" means about to.) In a story, what goes at the end of his words? Test 9 of lesson 35 «Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of eac
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/t9/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/) / [Direct speech: inverted commas and new…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/) / t9

# Test 9 · Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tom from Texas: "Y'all fixin' to eat?" ("Fixin' to" means about to.) In a story, what goes at the end of his words?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Y'all, Fixin · **What happens:** fixin, eat, mean, go, word · **To what, where:** story

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 35 «Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers» of the English 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/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Tom from Texas: "Y'all fixin' to eat?"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:t9:1
# text = Tom from Texas: "Y'all fixin' to eat?"
1	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	from	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	Texas	Texas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Y'all	y'all	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	fixin	fixin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fixin** *in a quote* |  | Y'all |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **eat** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* ("Fixin' to" means about to.)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:t9:2
# text = ("Fixin' to" means about to.)
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Fixin	Fixin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
7	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	about	about	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Fixin |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* In a story, what goes at the end of his words?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:t9:3
# text = In a story, what goes at the end of his words?
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
6	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present |  |  |  | a story | at the end of fixin's words |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in story=Location |
| 2 | **word** |  | fixin |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, it is dialect

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:t9:o1:1
# text = Nothing, it is dialect
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	dialect	dialect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Nothing | dialect |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A question mark inside the marks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:t9:o2:1
# text = A question mark inside the marks
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	mark	mark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	marks	mark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A full stop outside the marks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:t9:o3:1
# text = A full stop outside the marks
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	stop	stop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	outside	outside	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	marks	mark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A comma outside the marks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:t9:o4:1
# text = A comma outside the marks
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	comma	comma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	outside	outside	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	marks	mark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Direct speech: inverted commas and new…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/t8/)
- next →: [Direct speech: inverted commas and new…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/)