---
title: Why nearly did the captain not give the cat up? — Old Tales, Whittington and His Cat, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why nearly did the captain not give the cat up? Test 14 · ★ of lesson 1968 «Old Tales, Whittington and His Cat, part 27: Dick's cat wins his place at court across the sea» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1968-pg7439-part27/t14/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Old Tales, Whittington and His Cat, pa…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1968-pg7439-part27/) / t14

# Test 14 · ★ · Old Tales, Whittington and His Cat, part 27: Dick's cat wi…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why nearly did the captain not give the cat up?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** captain · **What happens:** not give up · **To what, where:** cat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 14 · ★ of lesson 1968 «Old Tales, Whittington and His Cat, part 27: Dick's cat wins his place at court across the sea» 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/1968-pg7439-part27/#t14).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1968-pg7439-part27:t14:1
# text = Why nearly did the captain not give the cat up?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	up	up	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **give up** | past · do-support | the captain | the cat |  |  |  | nearly *property* | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cat=Source |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rats might wreck the cargo

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1968-pg7439-part27:t14:o1:1
# text = The rats might wreck the cargo
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	wreck	wreck	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	cargo	cargo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wreck** | might | the rats | the cargo |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cargo=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The king had asked for her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1968-pg7439-part27:t14:o2:1
# text = The king had asked for her
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · perfect | the king |  |  |  |  | for her *= she* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cat was his favourite pet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1968-pg7439-part27:t14:o3:1
# text = The cat was his favourite pet
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	favourite	favourite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	pet	pet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the cat | cat's favourite pet |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cats are not allowed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1968-pg7439-part27:t14:o4:1
# text = Cats are not allowed
1	Cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **allow** | present · passive |  | Cats |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Old Tales, Whittington and His Cat, pa…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1968-pg7439-part27/t13/)
- next →: [Old Tales, Whittington and His Cat, pa…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1968-pg7439-part27/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Old Tales, Whittington and His Cat, part 27: Dick's cat wins his place at court across the sea](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1968-pg7439-part27/)