---
title: What did the captain say about his lost son? — Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could W… · tree and pragmatics
description: What did the captain say about his lost son? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 176 «Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could Write, part 16: the monkey's handwriting wins the Sultan's favour, and the princess reveals his secret» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could Write, part 16: the m…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What did the captain say about his lost son?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** captain · **What happens:** do, say, lose · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 176 «Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could Write, part 16: the monkey's handwriting wins the Sultan's favour, and the princess reveals his secret» 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/176-pg128-part16/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:t9:1
# text = What did the captain say about his lost son?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
6	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the captain |  |  |  |  | about captain's lost son | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **lose** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had a fine voice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:t9:o1:1
# text = He had a fine voice
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | He | a fine voice |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent voice=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had much less sense and was lost at sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:t9:o2:1
# text = He had much less sense and was lost at sea
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	much	much	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | He | less sense |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sense=Patient |
| 2 | **lose** | past · passive | He *not said here* |  |  | sea |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V PP.eventuality S\_ING»: at sea=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had much less sense than the monkey

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:t9:o3:1
# text = He had much less sense than the monkey
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	much	much	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	monkey	monkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | He | less sense |  |  |  | than the monkey | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sense=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had much less sense

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:176-pg128-part16:t9:o4:1
# text = He had much less sense
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	much	much	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | He | less sense |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sense=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, The Monkey Who Could W…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/176-pg128-part16/t8/)
- next →: [Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could W…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/176-pg128-part16/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could Write, part 16: the monkey's handwriting wins the Sultan's favour, and the princess reveals his secret](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/176-pg128-part16/)