---
title: «why's the owl in a boat with a cat, that's not even possible». What… — Reading poems: meaning, sound and pict… · tree and pragmatics
description: «why's the owl in a boat with a cat, that's not even possible». What kind of poem is it? Test 8 · ★★★ of lesson 25 «Reading poems: meaning, sound and pictures» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice wa
---

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# Test 8 · ★★★ · Reading poems: meaning, sound and pictures

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«why's the owl in a boat with a cat, that's not even possible». What kind of poem is it?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** that, poem · **What happens:** be, not be · **To what, where:** owl, boat, kind

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★★ of lesson 25 «Reading poems: meaning, sound and pictures» of the English 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/english/25-reading-poems-meaning-sound-and-pictures/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «why's the owl in a boat with a cat, that's not even possible».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:25-reading-poems-meaning-sound-and-pictures:t8:1
# text = «why's the owl in a boat with a cat, that's not even possible».
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	even	even	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | the owl |  | a boat with a cat |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | present | that |  |  |  |  | possible *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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What kind of poem is it?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:25-reading-poems-meaning-sound-and-pictures:t8:2
# text = What kind of poem is it?
1	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	poem	poem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	cop	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | poem | what kind |  |  |  | of poem | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A true diary

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:25-reading-poems-meaning-sound-and-pictures:t8:o1:1
# text = A true diary
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	diary	diary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A science report

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:25-reading-poems-meaning-sound-and-pictures:t8:o2:1
# text = A science report
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	science	science	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	report	report	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nonsense verse, silly on purpose

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:25-reading-poems-meaning-sound-and-pictures:t8:o3:1
# text = Nonsense verse, silly on purpose
1	Nonsense	nonsense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	verse	verse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A newspaper article

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:25-reading-poems-meaning-sound-and-pictures:t8:o4:1
# text = A newspaper article
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	newspaper	newspaper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	article	article	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: [Reading poems: meaning, sound and pict…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/25-reading-poems-meaning-sound-and-pictures/t7/)
- next →: [Reading poems: meaning, sound and pict…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/25-reading-poems-meaning-sound-and-pictures/t9/)
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