---
title: Ascertain, in the sentence «The cat sat on the mat that was black»,… — Relative clauses · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain, in the sentence «The cat sat on the mat that was black», which noun the relative clause describes. Exam question 4 of lesson 30 «Relative clauses» 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 was 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Relative clauses

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain, in the sentence «The cat sat on the mat that was black», which noun the relative clause describes.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, cat, mat, relative clause · **What happens:** ascertain, sit, be, describe · **To what, where:** sentence, mat, noun

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 30 «Relative clauses» of the English course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/30-relative-clauses/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:30-relative-clauses:e4:1
# text = Ascertain, in the sentence «The cat sat on the mat that was black», which noun the relative clause describes.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
6	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	mat	mat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	19	det	_	_
19	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	appos	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	relative	relative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	clause	clause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	describes	describe	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the sentence |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sentence=Topic |
| 2 | **sit** *in a quote* | past | the cat | the sentence *not said here* |  | the mat |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent sentence=Theme on mat=Location |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the mat |  |  |  |  | black *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **describe** | present | the relative clause | which noun *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent noun=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Both nouns equally

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:30-relative-clauses:e4:o1:1
# text = Both nouns equally
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	nouns	noun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	equally	equally	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:30-relative-clauses:e4:o2:1
# text = The cat
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	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 -->
The mat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:30-relative-clauses:e4:o3:1
# text = The mat
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mat	mat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No noun, the clause being adverbial

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:30-relative-clauses:e4:o4:1
# text = No noun, the clause being adverbial
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	clause	clause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
6	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
7	adverbial	adverbial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | gerund | no noun and the clause | adverbial |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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: [Relative clauses, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/30-relative-clauses/e3/)
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