---
title: What pretext did the Captain offer for declining the salted victuals… — Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty… · tree and pragmatics
description: What pretext did the Captain offer for declining the salted victuals at supper? Exam question 4 of lesson 1471 «Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, part 58: Morgiana foils the robbers' attack and dances at supper» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and
---

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# Exam question 4 · Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, part 58: M…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What pretext did the Captain offer for declining the salted victuals at supper?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** pretext · **What happens:** do, decline, salt · **To what, where:** Captain offer, salted victuals, supper

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 1471 «Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, part 58: Morgiana foils the robbers' attack and dances at supper» 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/1471-pg503-part58/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1471-pg503-part58:e4:1
# text = What pretext did the Captain offer for declining the salted victuals at supper?
1	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	pretext	pretext	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	Captain	Captain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	offer	offer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	declining	decline	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	salted	salt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	amod	_	_
11	victuals	victual	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | what pretext | the Captain offer |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent offer=Eventuality |
| 2 | **decline** | gerund | what pretext *not said here* | the salted victuals |  | supper |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent victual=Theme |
| 3 | **salt** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He said no

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1471-pg503-part58:e4:o1:1
# text = He said no
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	2	ccomp	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He stated that he could eat no salt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1471-pg503-part58:e4:o2:1
# text = He stated that he could eat no salt
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stated	state	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
8	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **state** *speech: other* | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **eat** | could | he | no salt |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salt=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He claimed salt was a poison

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1471-pg503-part58:e4:o3:1
# text = He claimed salt was a poison
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	claimed	claim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	poison	poison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **claim** *speech: other* | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | salt | a poison |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had no appetite

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1471-pg503-part58:e4:o4:1
# text = He had no appetite
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	appetite	appetite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | He | no appetite |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent appetite=Patient |

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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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- ← previous: [Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1471-pg503-part58/e3/)
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