---
title: Mate, what was the porter whinging about, saying his grub was rank? — Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mate, what was the porter whinging about, saying his grub was rank? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 181 «Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, part 21: Hindbad the porter is summoned to Sindbad's feast and hears how the voyages began» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pra
---

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# Test 2 · ★ · Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, part 21: Hindbad the p…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mate, what was the porter whinging about, saying his grub was rank?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mate, porter · **What happens:** be, whing, say · **To what, where:** porter, grub, Mate rank · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 181 «Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, part 21: Hindbad the porter is summoned to Sindbad's feast and hears how the voyages began» 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/181-pg128-part21/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:181-pg128-part21:t2:1
# text = Mate, what was the porter whinging about, saying his grub was rank?
1	Mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
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	porter	porter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
7	whinging	whing	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	about	about	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	saying	say	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	conj	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	grub	grub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	rank	rank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Mate and the porter | the porter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **whing** | gerund | the porter *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the porter *not said here* | his grub |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent grub=Topic |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | Mate rank |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
the scraps off the posh lads' plates every single day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:181-pg128-part21:t2:o1:1
# text = the scraps off the posh lads' plates every single day
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	scraps	scrap	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	off	off	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	posh	posh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	lads	lad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	'	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	plates	plate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
9	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	det	_	_
10	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod:unmarked	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
mouldy barley cakes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:181-pg128-part21:t2:o2:1
# text = mouldy barley cakes
1	mouldy	mouldy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
2	barley	barley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	cakes	cake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
bad barley bread

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:181-pg128-part21:t2:o3:1
# text = bad barley bread
1	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
2	barley	barley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
stale nosh

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:181-pg128-part21:t2:o4:1
# text = stale nosh
1	stale	stale	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	nosh	nosh	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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- ← previous: [Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, pa…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/181-pg128-part21/t1/)
- next →: [Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, pa…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/181-pg128-part21/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, part 21: Hindbad the porter is summoned to Sindbad's feast and hears how the voyages began](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/181-pg128-part21/)