---
title: Ascertain the number of nouns contained within the sentence "The dog… — Grammar puzzles, part one · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the number of nouns contained within the sentence "The dog chased the cat into the garden". Exam question 1 of lesson 11 «Grammar puzzles, part one» of the language 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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# Exam question 1 · Grammar puzzles, part one

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the number of nouns contained within the sentence "The dog chased the cat into the garden".

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, dog · **What happens:** ascertain, contain, chase · **To what, where:** number, nouns, cat, garden

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 11 «Grammar puzzles, part one» of the language 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/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:e1:1
# text = Ascertain the number of nouns contained within the sentence "The dog chased the cat into the garden".
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	nouns	noun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
6	contained	contain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	within	within	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	chased	chase	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	into	into	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	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 number of nouns |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Topic |
| 2 | **contain** | participle |  | nouns *not said here* |  |  |  | within the sentence | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **chase** *in a quote* | past | the dog | the cat |  | the garden |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent cat=Theme into garden=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 -->
Three

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:e1:o1:1
# text = Three
1	Three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Five

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:e1:o2:1
# text = Five
1	Five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Four

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:e1:o3:1
# text = Four
1	Four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:e1:o4:1
# text = Two
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	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: [Grammar puzzles, part one, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/t11/)
- next →: [Grammar puzzles, part one, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Grammar puzzles, part one](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/)