---
title: Grandma in Texas: «Boy, you fixin' to lie to me?» What does «fixin'… — «I did brush my teeth»: little lies at… · tree and pragmatics
description: Grandma in Texas: «Boy, you fixin' to lie to me?» What does «fixin' to» mean? Test 5 of lesson 427 ««I did brush my teeth»: little lies at home» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 5 · «I did brush my teeth»: little lies at home

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Grandma in Texas: «Boy, you fixin' to lie to me?» What does «fixin' to» mean?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Grandma · **What happens:** fixin, lie, mean · **To what, where:** me

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 427 ««I did brush my teeth»: little lies at home» of the everyday 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/everyday/427-i-did-brush-my-teeth-little-lies-at-home/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Grandma in Texas: «Boy, you fixin' to lie to me?»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:427-i-did-brush-my-teeth-little-lies-at-home:t5:1
# text = Grandma in Texas: «Boy, you fixin' to lie to me?»
1	Grandma	grandma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	Texas	Texas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Boy	boy	INTJ	UH	_	9	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	fixin	fixin	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fixin** *in a quote* | present | Grandma in Texas |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lie** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Grandma in Texas *not said here* |  | me |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «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:* What does «fixin' to» mean?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:427-i-did-brush-my-teeth-little-lies-at-home:t5:2
# text = What does «fixin' to» mean?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	fixin	fixin	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
8	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fixin** *in a quote* | present · do-support |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **mean** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Always going to

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:427-i-did-brush-my-teeth-little-lies-at-home:t5:o1:1
# text = Always going to
1	Always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	2	advmod	_	_
2	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About to

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:427-i-did-brush-my-teeth-little-lies-at-home:t5:o2:1
# text = About to
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	1	fixed	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Trying to fix

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:427-i-did-brush-my-teeth-little-lies-at-home:t5:o3:1
# text = Trying to fix
1	Trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	fix	fix	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **fix** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Never going to

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:427-i-did-brush-my-teeth-little-lies-at-home:t5:o4:1
# text = Never going to
1	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
2	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **go** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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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