---
title: Why might a city cat leave a big rat alone but chase a mouse? — Tom and Jerry: do real cats really cha… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might a city cat leave a big rat alone but chase a mouse? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 118 «Tom and Jerry: do real cats really chase mice?» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Tom and Jerry: do real cats really chase mice?

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might a city cat leave a big rat alone but chase a mouse?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** city cat · **What happens:** leave, chase · **To what, where:** big rat, mouse

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This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 118 «Tom and Jerry: do real cats really chase mice?» of the biology 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/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice:t9:1
# text = Why might a city cat leave a big rat alone but chase a mouse?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	chase	chase	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | might | a city cat | a big rat |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rat=Theme |
| 2 | **chase** | present | a city cat *not said here* | a mouse |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouse=Theme |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rats are too slow to be fun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice:t9:o1:1
# text = Rats are too slow to be fun
1	Rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
7	fun	fun	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Rats |  |  |  |  | slow *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | Rats *not said here* |  |  |  |  | fun *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A big rat can fight back hard and hurt the cat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice:t9:o2:1
# text = A big rat can fight back hard and hurt the cat
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	back	back	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	hurt	hurt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight back** | can | a big rat |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **hurt** | infinitive | a big rat *not said here* | the cat |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cat=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cats cannot see rats

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice:t9:o3:1
# text = Cats cannot see rats
1	Cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | can | Cats | rats |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer rat=Stimulus |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rats are always friends with cats

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice:t9:o4:1
# text = Rats are always friends with cats
1	Rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Rats | friends |  |  |  | with cats; always *property* | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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