---
title: Why does the Man say «Not when I am near»? — Just So Stories, The Cat that Walked b… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does the Man say «Not when I am near»? Test 2 · ★★ of lesson 95 «Just So Stories, The Cat that Walked by Himself, part 3: the third word, the Man, the Dog, and how cats really came to live with us» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the quest
---

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# Test 2 · ★★ · Just So Stories, The Cat that Walked by Himself, part 3: t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does the Man say «Not when I am near»?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Man · **What happens:** say, not be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★★ of lesson 95 «Just So Stories, The Cat that Walked by Himself, part 3: the third word, the Man, the Dog, and how cats really came to live with us» 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/95-justso-cat-3-the-cat-walks-by-himself/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:95-justso-cat-3-the-cat-walks-by-himself:t2:1
# text = Why does the Man say «Not when I am near»?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	near	near	ADV	RB	_	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | the Man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | present | the Man *= man* |  |  |  |  | near *property* | 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 Cat asks to go hunting

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:95-justso-cat-3-the-cat-walks-by-himself:t2:o1:1
# text = The Cat asks to go hunting
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | the Cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Cat *not said here* | hunting |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location hunting=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Cat still says he walks by himself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:95-justso-cat-3-the-cat-walks-by-himself:t2:o2:1
# text = The Cat still says he walks by himself
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	still	still	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	walks	walk	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the Cat |  |  |  | still |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **walk** | present | Cat |  |  |  |  | by Cat | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by himself=Trajectory |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Man is afraid

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:95-justso-cat-3-the-cat-walks-by-himself:t2:o3:1
# text = The Man is afraid
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the Man |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Cat is sitting too near the Man's place by the fire, and the Man wants it back

<!-- fold The tree, 19 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:95-justso-cat-3-the-cat-walks-by-himself:t2:o4:1
# text = The Cat is sitting too near the Man's place by the fire, and the Man wants it back
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	near	near	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	wants	want	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	back	back	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | present · progressive | the Cat |  |  | the Man's place by the fire |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent near place=Location |
| 2 | **want back** | present | the Man | Cat |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |

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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: [Just So Stories, The Cat that Walked b…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/95-justso-cat-3-the-cat-walks-by-himself/t1/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, The Cat that Walked b…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/95-justso-cat-3-the-cat-walks-by-himself/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, The Cat that Walked by Himself, part 3: the third word, the Man, the Dog, and how cats really came to live with us](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/95-justso-cat-3-the-cat-walks-by-himself/)