---
title: Zoe asks "do parrots get sick after football?" What would you say? — Idioms taken literally · tree and pragmatics
description: Zoe asks "do parrots get sick after football?" What would you say? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 25 «Idioms taken literally» of the language 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 8 · ★★ · Idioms taken literally

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Zoe asks "do parrots get sick after football?" What would you say?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Zoe, you · **What happens:** ask, do, say · **To what, where:** parrots · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 25 «Idioms taken literally» of the language 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/language/25-idioms-taken-literally/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Zoe asks "do parrots get sick after football?"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t8:1
# text = Zoe asks "do parrots get sick after football?"
1	Zoe	Zoe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	parrots	parrot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	get	get	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
8	after	after	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	football	football	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | Zoe |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** *not said to happen, in a quote* | infinitive | Zoe *not said here* | parrots |  |  | after football | sick *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent parrot=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 would you say?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t8:2
# text = What would you say?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | would | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means the team has a pet parrot that watches

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t8:o1:1
# text = It means the team has a pet parrot that watches
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	team	team	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	pet	pet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	parrot	parrot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	watches	watch	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | present | the team | a pet parrot |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent parrot=Patient |
| 3 | **watch** | present | a pet parrot |  |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, parrots hate football

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t8:o2:1
# text = Yes, parrots hate football
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	parrots	parrot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	hate	hate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	football	football	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hate** | present | parrots | football |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer football=Stimulus |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Sick as a parrot" just means very disappointed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t8:o3:1
# text = "Sick as a parrot" just means very disappointed
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	csubj	_	_
3	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	parrot	parrot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
7	just	just	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	disappointed	disappointed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means the players were ill

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t8:o4:1
# text = It means the players were ill
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	players	player	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | the players |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | tree rules |

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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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