---
title: Why can't a word ladder go from CAT to HORSE? — Olympiad: word puzzles — anagrams, pal… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why can't a word ladder go from CAT to HORSE? Test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 56 «Olympiad: word puzzles — anagrams, palindromes, word ladders» 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 right.
---

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# Test 9 · ★★★ · Olympiad: word puzzles — anagrams, palindromes, word ladders

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why can't a word ladder go from CAT to HORSE?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** word ladder · **What happens:** not go · **To what, where:** HORSE

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 56 «Olympiad: word puzzles — anagrams, palindromes, word ladders» 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/56-olympiad-word-puzzles-anagrams-palindromes-word-ladders/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:56-olympiad-word-puzzles-anagrams-palindromes-word-ladders:t9:1
# text = Why can't a word ladder go from CAT to HORSE?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	ladder	ladder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	CAT	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	HORSE	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **go** | can | a word ladder |  | HORSE |  |  | from CAT | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme from cat=Initial\_Location to horse=Destination |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The words have different numbers of letters

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:56-olympiad-word-puzzles-anagrams-palindromes-word-ladders:t9:o1:1
# text = The words have different numbers of letters
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | the words | different numbers of letters |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
HORSE has an S in it, and CAT has not

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:56-olympiad-word-puzzles-anagrams-palindromes-word-ladders:t9:o2:1
# text = HORSE has an S in it, and CAT has not
1	HORSE	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	S	s	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	CAT	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | HORSE | a S |  | S |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent s=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **have** | present | CAT |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It can, in exactly six careful steps

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:56-olympiad-word-puzzles-anagrams-palindromes-word-ladders:t9:o3:1
# text = It can, in exactly six careful steps
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
7	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Horses and cats are not related animals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:56-olympiad-word-puzzles-anagrams-palindromes-word-ladders:t9:o4:1
# text = Horses and cats are not related animals
1	Horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
6	related	related	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | present | Horses and cats | related animals |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- 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 -->

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