---
title: Jake says, «it was only a cheap pot, why should I pay?» Fair to pay? — The ball over the fence and the grumpy… · tree and pragmatics
description: Jake says, «it was only a cheap pot, why should I pay?» Fair to pay? Test 9 of lesson 473 «The ball over the fence and the grumpy old man next door» 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 9 · The ball over the fence and the grumpy old man next door

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Jake says, «it was only a cheap pot, why should I pay?» Fair to pay?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Jake, it · **What happens:** say, be, pay · **To what, where:** cheap pot · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 473 «The ball over the fence and the grumpy old man next door» 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/473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Jake says, «it was only a cheap pot, why should I pay?»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door:t9:1
# text = Jake says, «it was only a cheap pot, why should I pay?»
1	Jake	Jake	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
4	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	cheap	cheap	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
13	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | present | Jake |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | it | a cheap pot |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **pay** *in a quote* | should | Jake |  |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: 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:* Fair to pay?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door:t9:2
# text = Fair to pay?
1	Fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, he broke it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door:t9:o1:1
# text = Yes, he broke it
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | past | he | it |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, Mr Grimshaw should pay for it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door:t9:o2:1
# text = No, Mr Grimshaw should pay for it
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	Mr	Mr	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	Grimshaw	Grimshaw	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	flat	_	_
5	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | should | Mr |  |  |  |  | for it | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent for it=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but only if it's over £100

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door:t9:o3:1
# text = Yes, but only if it's over £100
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	9	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	over	over	ADV	RB	_	9	advcl	_	_
9	£	£	SYM	$	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	100	100	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, cheap things like that don't count

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door:t9:o4:1
# text = No, cheap things like that don't count
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	9	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	cheap	cheap	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nmod	_	_
7	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	count	count	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **count** | present · do-support | cheap things like that |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- 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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- ← previous: [The ball over the fence and the grumpy…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door/t8/)
- next →: [The ball over the fence and the grumpy…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door/t10/)
- ↑ back to [The ball over the fence and the grumpy old man next door](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door/)