---
title: «my dog wagged at the cat and it whacked him?? he was being nice» Wh… — Spike and Tom: real dogs and cats, ene… · tree and pragmatics
description: «my dog wagged at the cat and it whacked him?? he was being nice» What happened? Test 2 of lesson 121 «Spike and Tom: real dogs and cats, enemies or friends?» 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
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/121-spike-and-tom-real-dogs-and-cats/t2/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [Spike and Tom: real dogs and cats, ene…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/121-spike-and-tom-real-dogs-and-cats/) / t2

# Test 2 · Spike and Tom: real dogs and cats, enemies or friends?

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«my dog wagged at the cat and it whacked him?? he was being nice» What happened?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** dog, cat · **What happens:** wag, whack, be, happen · **To what, where:** cat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 of lesson 121 «Spike and Tom: real dogs and cats, enemies or friends?» 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/121-spike-and-tom-real-dogs-and-cats/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:121-spike-and-tom-real-dogs-and-cats:t2:1
# text = «my dog wagged at the cat and it whacked him?? he was being nice» What happened?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	wagged	wag	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	whacked	whack	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	??	??	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	cop	_	_
16	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
18	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	19	nsubj	_	_
19	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wag** *in a quote* | past | my dog |  |  |  |  | at the cat | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **whack** *in a quote* | past | dog | cat |  |  |  |  | vn hit-18.1 «NP.instrument V NP»: agent=Instrument he=Patient |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | past | cat |  |  |  |  | nice *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=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 -->
The cat hates all dogs, whatever they do, and always hits them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:121-spike-and-tom-real-dogs-and-cats:t2:o1:1
# text = The cat hates all dogs, whatever they do, and always hits them
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	hates	hate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	obj	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	13	advmod	_	_
13	hits	hit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hate** | present | the cat | all dogs |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer dog=Stimulus |
| 2 | **do** | present | dogs *= dog* | whatever |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whatever=Eventuality |
| 3 | **hit** | present |  | dogs *= dog* |  |  |  | always *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Co-Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cat wanted to play

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:121-spike-and-tom-real-dogs-and-cats:t2:o2:1
# text = The cat wanted to play
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | the cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **play** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cat's swishing tail can mean cross, so they misread each other

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:121-spike-and-tom-real-dogs-and-cats:t2:o3:1
# text = A cat's swishing tail can mean cross, so they misread each other
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	swishing	swish	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	amod	_	_
5	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	cross	cross	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	misread	misread	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
13	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	12	obj	_	_
14	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swish** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **mean** | can | a cat's swishing tail |  |  |  |  | cross *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **misread** | present | they | each |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The dog was really angry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:121-spike-and-tom-real-dogs-and-cats:t2:o4:1
# text = The dog was really angry
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	really	really	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the dog |  |  |  |  | angry *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Spike and Tom: real dogs and cats, ene…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/121-spike-and-tom-real-dogs-and-cats/t1/)
- next →: [Spike and Tom: real dogs and cats, ene…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/121-spike-and-tom-real-dogs-and-cats/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Spike and Tom: real dogs and cats, enemies or friends?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/121-spike-and-tom-real-dogs-and-cats/)