---
title: Grandpa: «How many seconds, son?» Why does he keep asking this? — Boasting cousins and made-up holidays · tree and pragmatics
description: Grandpa: «How many seconds, son?» Why does he keep asking this? Test 1 · ★★ of lesson 435 «Boasting cousins and made-up holidays» 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 1 · ★★ · Boasting cousins and made-up holidays

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Grandpa: «How many seconds, son?» Why does he keep asking this?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** he · **What happens:** keep, ask · **To what, where:** this

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★★ of lesson 435 «Boasting cousins and made-up holidays» 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/435-boasting-cousins-and-made-up-holidays/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Grandpa: «How many seconds, son?»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:435-boasting-cousins-and-made-up-holidays:t1:1
# text = Grandpa: «How many seconds, son?»
1	Grandpa	grandpa	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
5	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why does he keep asking this?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:435-boasting-cousins-and-made-up-holidays:t1:2
# text = Why does he keep asking this?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present · do-support | he |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund | he *not said here* | this |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent this=Recipient |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because rodeos have big timers on the wall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:435-boasting-cousins-and-made-up-holidays:t1:o1:1
# text = Because rodeos have big timers on the wall
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	rodeos	rodeo	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	timers	timer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | rodeos | big timers |  | the wall |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent timer=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because he likes counting things out loud

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:435-boasting-cousins-and-made-up-holidays:t1:o2:1
# text = Because he likes counting things out loud
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	likes	like	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	counting	count	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	out	out	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	loud	loud	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **like** | present | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **count** *not said to happen* | gerund | he *not said here* | things |  |  |  | loud *property* | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because Jake rides bulls every day on Grandpa's farm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:435-boasting-cousins-and-made-up-holidays:t1:o3:1
# text = Because Jake rides bulls every day on Grandpa's farm
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	Jake	Jake	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	rides	ride	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	bulls	bull	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	Grandpa	Grandpa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ride** | present | Jake | bulls |  | Grandpa's farm | day |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bull=Theme |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To remind Jake how tall his tales are

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:435-boasting-cousins-and-made-up-holidays:t1:o4:1
# text = To remind Jake how tall his tales are
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	remind	remind	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Jake	Jake	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
5	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remind** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  |  | Jake |  |  |  | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent jake=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | present | Jake's tales |  |  |  |  | tall *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **tell** |  | Jake |  |  |  |  |  | nom tale «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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