---
title: Upon what object did the protagonist first recline in a state of ext… — pg503, Whittington and His Cat, part 4… · tree and pragmatics
description: Upon what object did the protagonist first recline in a state of extreme debility? Exam question 1 of lesson 1462 «pg503, Whittington and His Cat, part 49: a hungry boy is taken in, buys a cat, and sends her to sea» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatic
---

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# Exam question 1 · pg503, Whittington and His Cat, part 49: a hungry boy is t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Upon what object did the protagonist first recline in a state of extreme debility?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** object, protagonist · **What happens:** do, recline · **To what, where:** protagonist, state

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 1462 «pg503, Whittington and His Cat, part 49: a hungry boy is taken in, buys a cat, and sends her to sea» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/books/1462-pg503-part49/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1462-pg503-part49:e1:1
# text = Upon what object did the protagonist first recline in a state of extreme debility?
1	Upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
3	object	object	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	advmod	_	_
8	recline	recline	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	extreme	extreme	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	debility	debility	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | object | the protagonist |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **recline** | infinitive | the protagonist *not said here* |  |  | a state of extreme debility |  | first *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in state=Location |

<!-- .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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Upon the stone doorstep of a wealthy merchant named Mr. Fitzwarren at the market

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1462-pg503-part49:e1:o1:1
# text = Upon the stone doorstep of a wealthy merchant named Mr. Fitzwarren at the market
1	Upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	doorstep	doorstep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	wealthy	wealthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod:desc	_	_
11	Fitzwarren	Fitzwarren	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	xcomp	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	market	market	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **name** | participle |  | a wealthy merchant *not said here* |  | the market |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On the threshold of a rich old shop in London's street

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1462-pg503-part49:e1:o2:1
# text = On the threshold of a rich old shop in London's street
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	threshold	threshold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	shop	shop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	London	London	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Upon the threshold of a merchant named Mr. Fitzwarren

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1462-pg503-part49:e1:o3:1
# text = Upon the threshold of a merchant named Mr. Fitzwarren
1	Upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	threshold	threshold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
8	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:desc	_	_
9	Fitzwarren	Fitzwarren	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **name** | participle |  | a merchant *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Beside the gate of a merchant named Mr. Smith

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1462-pg503-part49:e1:o4:1
# text = Beside the gate of a merchant named Mr. Smith
1	Beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
8	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:desc	_	_
9	Smith	Smith	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **name** | participle |  | a merchant *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=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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- ← previous: [pg503, Whittington and His Cat, part 4…, test 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1462-pg503-part49/t14/)
- next →: [pg503, Whittington and His Cat, part 4…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1462-pg503-part49/e2/)
- ↑ back to [pg503, Whittington and His Cat, part 49: a hungry boy is taken in, buys a cat, and sends her to sea](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1462-pg503-part49/)