Cats: purring, whiskers, night eyes and grooming
Tests: 7 of 12 right · Exam: 3 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 10 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 197 of the biology course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★ · right ✓
«my cat's purring at the vet so he's fine, yeah?» What is right?
- 1. Yes, purring means he is well — score 3
- 2. No, purring means he is about to bite — no support
- 3. Yes, sick cats never purr — score 0
- 4. Not always, cats also purr when hurt or scared — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 8, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 20, line 13: «Cats knead soft things with their paws, as kittens knead their mother for milk, and purr when happy, but sometimes also when hurt or scared.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «hurt» (+5); the same doer «cats» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · right ✓
«his whiskers are dead long, I'll trim them like a haircut» What is right?
- 1. Yes, whiskers grow back in a day, just like your hair grows in a week — no support
- 2. No, but cut half of them — no support
- 3. Yes, it makes him faster and helps him climb — no support
- 4. No, whiskers are feelers and must never be cut — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 197, line 2: «Its whiskers are feelers that tell it whether a gap is wide enough, its eyes shine in headlights because a mirror layer inside them catches every bit of light,…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «feelers» (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗
«cats can see in pitch black, that's why they hunt at night» What is closer to the truth?
- 1. No, cats are blind at night — score 2
- 2. Yes, they see perfectly in total darkness, even in a cellar with no windows — ← Mova's choice · score 5
- 3. They need a little light, but only about a sixth of what we need — ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. Yes, they use night goggles — score 3
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 119, line 8: «Cats can see in about one sixth of the light people need, but in total darkness a cat sees nothing, just like you.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «see» (+2); the same place «total darkness» (+2); the same doer «cat» (+1). The right option, 3, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗
«ugh the cat's sicked up a hairy sausage on my bed» What is it most likely?
- 1. A worm it found — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. A hairball of swallowed fur from grooming — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. A piece of carpet it ate when nobody was watching — no support
- 4. A mouse tail — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · right ✓
«lazy cat sleeps all day, does nothing» What is the real reason?
- 1. Cats are ill if they sleep in the day — score -3
- 2. Cats sleep only in winter, when it is too cold to go out and hunt — score 8
- 3. Cats are always bored — score 4
- 4. Cats save energy for hunting at dawn and dusk — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 9, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 119, line 16: «Cats sleep or doze about 12 to 16 hours a day to save energy for short bursts of hunting, and they are most active at dawn and dusk, when mice and many birds a…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «save» (+5); the same doer «cats» (+3); the same thing acted on «energy» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · right ✓
«Mittens rubbed her face all over my legs, she's itchy?» What is she doing?
- 1. Wiping off her dinner — no support
- 2. Trying to trip you up — no support
- 3. Cleaning your jeans — no support
- 4. Marking you with scent as part of her group — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 4 with score 9, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 197, line 14: «When a cat rubs its cheek on your legs it is marking you with scent from glands in its face, as if saying «you belong to my group».», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «mark» (+3); the same circumstance (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★ · right ✓
What would happen if a cat had no scratching post anywhere at home?
- 1. It would learn to file its own nails on the floor — score 3
- 2. It would probably scratch the furniture — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
- 3. Its claws would fall off within a few weeks — no support
- 4. It would stop scratching for ever and forget how — score 7
Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 197, line 15: «Cats scratch to keep their claws in good shape and to leave scent from glands in their paws; a scratching post near the spot they like can save the sofa.», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «scratch» (+4); the same doer «cats» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · right ✓
In a cartoon a cat meows to talk with other cats all night. What is true of real adult cats?
- 1. They never make any sound — no support
- 2. They meow mostly to people and talk to cats with smells, looks and body — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
- 3. They bark at each other — no support
- 4. They meow only to other cats, and stay completely silent with people all their lives — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 197, line 16: «Adult cats rarely meow at each other and talk to other cats mostly with smells, looks and body; they meow mostly to people, and each cat develops its own meows…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «meow» (+5); the same property (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗
Count them: a mother cat has 5 kittens. How many eyes in the basket, mother included?
- 1. 24 — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. 6 — no support
- 3. 10 — no support
- 4. 12 — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗
Count them: 3 cats sleep in a row. How many front legs with little whiskers on the back?
- 1. 9 — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. 6 — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. 3 — no support
- 4. 12 — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗
«why'd her eyes go all thin like a snake's in the sun» What is the answer?
- 1. She is cross with you — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. She is going blind — no support
- 3. She is about to sneeze — no support
- 4. Slit pupils let in very little light — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 12 · ★ · right ✓
«cat's eyes were glowing green in the dark, proper demon» What is the real reason?
- 1. Cats have little lights in their eyes that they switch on in the dark — score 4
- 2. A mirror layer at the back of each eye bounces the light back — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
- 3. Only magic cats do that — no support
- 4. It is a sign of illness — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 9, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 19, line 15: «A mirror layer at the back of a tiger's eye bounces light back through it, so tigers see far better than us at night and their eyes shine in headlights.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «bounce back» (+5); the same doer «mirror layer» (+3); the same thing acted on «light» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the purring of the domestic cat?
- 1. Purring may accompany contentment, injury or fear alike — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Purring invariably indicates contentment — no support
- 3. Only adult cats are capable of purring — no support
- 4. Purring is produced solely by the stomach — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the principal function of the whiskers of the domestic cat.
- 1. To furnish tactile information concerning gaps and nearby prey — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. To regulate the temperature of the ears during the coldest months of the year — no support
- 3. To produce the sound of purring — no support
- 4. To serve as decoration only — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the vision of the cat in conditions of low illumination.
- 1. A reflective layer permits vision in a fraction of the light required by humans, though not in total darkness — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The eyes of the cat emit light of their own — no support
- 3. The cat perceives perfectly in total darkness, its eyes requiring no light whatsoever to form an image — ← Mova's choice · score 9
- 4. The cat is entirely blind after sunset — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 9, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 69, line 12: «Carrots have vitamin A, which the eye needs to see in dim light, but eating extra carrots does not give night vision; the story spread in the Second World War…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «need» (+5); the same doer «eye» (+3); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
It is given that a domestic cat sleeps for the greater part of the day. Ascertain the most accurate explanation.
- 1. Sleep is required solely in the winter months, when hunting is impossible — no support
- 2. The animal is invariably unwell — no support
- 3. Energy is conserved for hunting at dawn and dusk, when prey is active — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 4. The animal is incapable of remaining awake, its brain lacking the required strength — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 197, line 4: «A cat that sleeps all afternoon is not lazy: like its wild relatives it saves energy for the hunting hours at dawn and dusk.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «dawn» (+3); the same thing acted on «energy» (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/197-cats-purring-whiskers-night-eyes-and-grooming/