Exam question 1 · The cat that only likes Dad, and other choosy pets

Identify the principal reason for which a domestic cat may exhibit a preference for one member of a household.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, domestic cat · What happens: identify, exhibit · To what, where: principal reason, preference

This is exam question 1 of lesson 457 «The cat that only likes Dad, and other choosy pets» of the everyday 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 exhibit	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 cat	det
8	domestic	domestic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 cat	amod
9	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 exhibit	nsubj
10	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 exhibit	aux
11	exhibit	exhibit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 reason	parataxis
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 preference	det
13	preference	preference	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 exhibit	obj
14	for	for	ADP	_	16 member	case
15	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	16 member	nummod
16	member	member	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 exhibit	obl
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 household	case
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 household	det
19	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 member	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	exhibit	may	a domestic cat	a preference				for the principal reason; for one member of a household	vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent preference=Theme

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

Option 1

The preference is determined at the cat's birth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 preference	det
2	preference	preference	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 determined	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 determined	aux:pass
4	determined	determine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	9 birth	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 cat	det
7	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 birth	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 cat	case
9	birth	birth	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 determined	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	present · passive		the preference		the cat's birth			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Cats are compelled to prefer male persons

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cats	cat	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 compelled	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 compelled	aux:pass
3	compelled	compel	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 prefer	mark
5	prefer	prefer	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 compelled	xcomp
6	male	male	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 persons	amod
7	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 prefer	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compel	present · passive		Cats					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result
2	prefer	to-infinitive		male persons					vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer person=Stimulus

Option 3

That member is the eldest person in the dwelling

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 member	det
2	member	member	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 person	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 person	cop
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 person	det
5	eldest	eld	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 person	amod
6	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 dwelling	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 dwelling	det
9	dwelling	dwelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 person	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	that member	the eldest person		the dwelling			tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

That member provides calm and regular care, including feeding

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 member	det
2	member	member	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 provides	nsubj
3	provides	provide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	calm	calm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 care	amod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 regular	cc
6	regular	regular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 calm	conj
7	care	care	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 provides	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 feeding	punct
9	including	including	ADP	_	10 feeding	case
10	feeding	feeding	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 provides	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	provide	present	that member	calm care				including feeding	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition care=Theme

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/457-the-cat-that-only-likes-dad-and-other-choosy-pets/e1/