---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growl… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the significance of a wagging tail in the domestic dog? Exam question 1 of lesson 194 «Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growls and staying safe» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of 
---

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# Exam question 1 · Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growls and staying safe

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the significance of a wagging tail in the domestic dog?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **What happens:** follow, characteris, wag · **To what, where:** significance

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 194 «Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growls and staying safe» of the biology 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the significance of a wagging tail in the domestic dog?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	significance	significance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	wagging	wag	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	amod	_	_
14	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	domestic	domestic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the significance of a wagging tail |  |  |  | of the following statements; in the domestic dog; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **wag** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
It invariably signifies aggression

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe:e1:o1:1
# text = It invariably signifies aggression
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	signifies	signify	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	aggression	aggression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **signify** | present | It | aggression |  |  |  | invariably *property* | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot aggression=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It invariably signifies contentment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe:e1:o2:1
# text = It invariably signifies contentment
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	signifies	signify	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	contentment	contentment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **signify** | present | It | contentment |  |  |  | invariably *property* | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot contentment=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It possesses no communicative significance whatsoever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe:e1:o3:1
# text = It possesses no communicative significance whatsoever
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	possesses	possess	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
4	communicative	communicative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	significance	significance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | It | no communicative significance |  |  |  | whatsoever *property* | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot significance=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its meaning depends upon the manner of the wag and the posture of the whole animal

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe:e1:o4:1
# text = Its meaning depends upon the manner of the wag and the posture of the whole animal
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	depends	depend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	wag	wag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	posture	posture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **depend** | present | Its meaning |  |  |  |  | upon the manner of the wag and the posture of the whole animal | vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **mean** |  | Its *= it* |  |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- 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 -->

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- ← previous: [Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growl…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/t12/)
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- ↑ back to [Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growls and staying safe](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/)