Test 2 · Understanding cats
A cat in Perth sees a big dog. Its back arches and its fur stands on end. Why?
Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: cat, fur · What happens: see, stand · To what, where: big dog, back arches, end
This is test 2 of lesson 23 «Understanding cats» of the everyday 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.
The question
Sentence 1: A cat in Perth sees a big dog.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 cat | det |
| 2 | cat | cat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 sees | nsubj |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 4 Perth | case |
| 4 | Perth | Perth | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 cat | nmod |
| 5 | sees | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 dog | det |
| 7 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 dog | amod |
| 8 | dog | dog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 sees | obj |
| 9 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 sees | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | see | present | a cat in Perth | a big dog | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer dog=Stimulus |
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.
Sentence 2: Its back arches and its fur stands on end.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 3 arches | nmod:poss |
| 2 | back | back | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 arches | compound |
| 3 | arches | arch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 stands | obl |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 3 arches | cc |
| 5 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 fur | nmod:poss |
| 6 | fur | fur | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 stands | nsubj |
| 7 | stands | stand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | on | on | ADP | _ | 9 end | case |
| 9 | end | end | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 stands | obl |
| 10 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 stands | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | stand | present | cat's fur | cat's back arches | on end | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on end=Location |
Sentence 3: Why?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | root | root |
| 2 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 1 Why | punct |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
The options
Option 1
It is stretching after a nap
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 stretching | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 stretching | aux |
| 3 | stretching | stretch | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | after | after | ADP | _ | 6 nap | case |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 nap | det |
| 6 | nap | nap | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 stretching | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | stretch | present · progressive | It | after a nap | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
Option 2
It is happy and wants to play
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 happy | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 happy | cop |
| 3 | happy | happy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 wants | cc |
| 5 | wants | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 happy | conj |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 play | mark |
| 7 | play | play | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 wants | xcomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | It | happy property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | want | present | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | ||||||
| 3 | play not said to happen | to-infinitive | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
It is scared and trying to look bigger
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 scared | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 scared | cop |
| 3 | scared | scared | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 trying | cc |
| 5 | trying | try | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 scared | conj |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 look | mark |
| 7 | look | look | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 trying | xcomp |
| 8 | bigger | big | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 7 look | xcomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | It | scared property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | try | gerund | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | ||||||
| 3 | look not said to happen | to-infinitive | big property | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
Option 4
It is warming its fur in the sun on purpose
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 warming | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 warming | aux |
| 3 | warming | warm | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 fur | nmod:poss |
| 5 | fur | fur | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 warming | obj |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 sun | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 sun | det |
| 8 | sun | sun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 warming | obl |
| 9 | on | on | ADP | _ | 10 purpose | case |
| 10 | purpose | purpose | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 warming | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | warm | present · progressive | It | its fur | the sun | on purpose | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent fur=Patient |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/23-understanding-cats/t2/