---
title: What would happen if a cat had no scratching post anywhere at home? — Cats: purring, whiskers, night eyes an… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a cat had no scratching post anywhere at home? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 197 «Cats: purring, whiskers, night eyes and grooming» 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 right.
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Cats: purring, whiskers, night eyes and grooming

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a cat had no scratching post anywhere at home?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cat · **What happens:** happen, have · **To what, where:** scratching post

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 197 «Cats: purring, whiskers, night eyes and grooming» 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/197-cats-purring-whiskers-night-eyes-and-grooming/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:197-cats-purring-whiskers-night-eyes-and-grooming:t7:1
# text = What would happen if a cat had no scratching post anywhere at home?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
9	scratching	scratching	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	post	post	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	anywhere	anywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	7	advmod	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a cat | no scratching post |  |  |  | anywhere *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent post=Patient |

<!-- .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 would learn to file its own nails on the floor

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:197-cats-purring-whiskers-night-eyes-and-grooming:t7:o1:1
# text = It would learn to file its own nails on the floor
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	file	file	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	nails	nail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | would | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **file** | to-infinitive |  | its own nails |  | the floor |  |  | vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent nail=Theme on floor=Destination |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would probably scratch the furniture

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:197-cats-purring-whiskers-night-eyes-and-grooming:t7:o2:1
# text = It would probably scratch the furniture
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	scratch	scratch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	furniture	furniture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scratch** | would | It | the furniture |  |  |  | probably *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent furniture=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its claws would fall off within a few weeks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:197-cats-purring-whiskers-night-eyes-and-grooming:t7:o3:1
# text = Its claws would fall off within a few weeks
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	off	off	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	within	within	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall off** | would | Its claws |  |  |  | week |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would stop scratching for ever and forget how

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:197-cats-purring-whiskers-night-eyes-and-grooming:t7:o4:1
# text = It would stop scratching for ever and forget how
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	scratching	scratch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	4	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	forget	forget	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
9	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **scratch** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for ever=Theme |
| 3 | **forget** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | 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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- ↑ back to [Cats: purring, whiskers, night eyes and grooming](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/197-cats-purring-whiskers-night-eyes-and-grooming/)