---
title: Bro, did the sultan really say "my cat" even when it ate a kid? — Swahili Tales, The Nunda: the sultan's… · tree and pragmatics
description: Bro, did the sultan really say "my cat" even when it ate a kid? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 1795 «Swahili Tales, The Nunda: the sultan's cat devours his people, and his youngest son sets out to slay it» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question an
---

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# Test 1 · ★ · Swahili Tales, The Nunda: the sultan's cat devours his peo…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bro, did the sultan really say "my cat" even when it ate a kid?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Bro · **What happens:** do, say, eat · **To what, where:** sultan, cat, kid · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 1795 «Swahili Tales, The Nunda: the sultan's cat devours his people, and his youngest son sets out to slay it» 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/1795-pg641-part46/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1795-pg641-part46:t1:1
# text = Bro, did the sultan really say "my cat" even when it ate a kid?
1	Bro	bro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
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	5	det	_	_
5	sultan	sultan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	really	really	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
12	even	even	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	kid	kid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | Bro | the sultan |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sultan=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Bro *not said here* | my cat |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **eat** | past | Bro | a kid |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kid=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
Yeah, bro, he said it every single time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1795-pg641-part46:t1:o1:1
# text = Yeah, bro, he said it every single time
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	bro	bro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	det	_	_
9	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, bana, he did, every single time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1795-pg641-part46:t1:o2:1
# text = Yeah, bana, he did, every single time
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	bana	bana	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	det	_	_
9	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | he | bana and every single time *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bana=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nah, bana, he said it only once, fam

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1795-pg641-part46:t1:o3:1
# text = Nah, bana, he said it only once, fam
1	Nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	bana	bana	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	fam	fam	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 | bana | it |  |  |  | fam *obl*; once *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, bana, he did

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1795-pg641-part46:t1:o4:1
# text = Yeah, bana, he did
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	bana	bana	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | bana |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: 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: [Arab Tales, Sit-in-the-Kitchen, the yo…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1794-pg641-part45/e4/)
- next →: [Swahili Tales, The Nunda: the sultan's…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1795-pg641-part46/t2/)
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