---
title: By what means was the vessel bearing the cat driven upon the coast o… — pg503, Whittington and His Cat, part 4… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means was the vessel bearing the cat driven upon the coast of Barbary? Exam question 2 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 pragmatics of
---

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# Exam question 2 · pg503, Whittington and His Cat, part 49: a hungry boy is t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means was the vessel bearing the cat driven upon the coast of Barbary?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** vessel · **What happens:** mean, be, bear, drive · **To what, where:** vessel, cat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 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/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1462-pg503-part49:e2:1
# text = By what means was the vessel bearing the cat driven upon the coast of Barbary?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	vessel	vessel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	bearing	bear	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	driven	drive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl	_	_
11	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	coast	coast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Barbary	Barbary	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | the vessel |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **bear** | gerund | the vessel *not said here* | the cat |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cat=Patient |
| 4 | **drive** | participle |  | the cat *not said here* |  |  |  | upon the coast of Barbary | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By a fierce gale

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1462-pg503-part49:e2:o1:1
# text = By a fierce gale
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	gale	gale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By fog

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1462-pg503-part49:e2:o2:1
# text = By fog
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	fog	fog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By contrary winds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1462-pg503-part49:e2:o3:1
# text = By contrary winds
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	contrary	contrary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	winds	wind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By storm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1462-pg503-part49:e2:o4:1
# text = By storm
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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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