---
title: what's the deal with the salt guy, why no salt? — Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty… · tree and pragmatics
description: what's the deal with the salt guy, why no salt? Test 5 · ★ 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 pragmatics of the question and of ea
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, part 58: M…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
what's the deal with the salt guy, why no salt?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** deal · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ 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. 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/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1471-pg503-part58:t5:1
# text = what's the deal with the salt guy, why no salt?
1	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	deal	deal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	guy	guy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	12	det	_	_
12	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the deal with the salt guy |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 salt was bad for his blood

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1471-pg503-part58:t5:o1:1
# text = he said salt was bad for his blood
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	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .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 |
| 2 | **is** | past | salt |  |  |  |  | for his blood; bad *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he said salt was forbidden by his doctor and his faith

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1471-pg503-part58:t5:o2:1
# text = he said salt was forbidden by his doctor and his faith
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	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	forbidden	forbid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	doctor	doctor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	faith	faith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .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 clause=Topic |
| 2 | **forbid** | past · passive | his doctor | salt |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he claimed salt gave him a fever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1471-pg503-part58:t5:o3:1
# text = he claimed salt gave him a fever
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	4	nsubj	_	_
4	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	fever	fever	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .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 clause=Topic |
| 2 | **give** | past | salt | a fever | him *= he* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient fever=Theme |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he said he couldn't eat food with salt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1471-pg503-part58:t5:o4:1
# text = he said he couldn't eat food with salt
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	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
7	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .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 clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **eat** | could | he | food |  |  |  | with salt | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1471-pg503-part58/t4/)
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