---
title: «the cat's hissing and flattening its ears, gonna pick it up for a c… — Cat body language and cat myths: milk,… · tree and pragmatics
description: «the cat's hissing and flattening its ears, gonna pick it up for a cuddle» What should happen? Test 12 · ★ of lesson 199 «Cat body language and cat myths: milk, nine lives and landing on their feet» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questi
---

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# Test 12 · ★ · Cat body language and cat myths: milk, nine lives and land…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«the cat's hissing and flattening its ears, gonna pick it up for a cuddle» What should happen?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** hissing, cuddle, cat · **What happens:** flatten, pick up, happen, hiss · **To what, where:** ears, hissing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 199 «Cat body language and cat myths: milk, nine lives and landing on their feet» 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/199-cat-body-language-and-cat-myths-milk-nine-lives-and-landing-on-their-feet/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:199-cat-body-language-and-cat-myths-milk-nine-lives-and-landing-on-their-feet:t12:1
# text = «the cat's hissing and flattening its ears, gonna pick it up for a cuddle» What should happen?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	hissing	hissing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	flattening	flatten	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	gonna	gonna	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	pick	pick	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	up	up	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	cuddle	cuddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
19	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	21	nsubj	_	_
20	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flatten** *in a quote* | gerund | the cat's hissing | hissing's ears |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ear=Patient |
| 2 | **pick up** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | hissing |  |  |  | for a cuddle | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 3 | **happen** | should | a cuddle |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **hiss** *in a quote* |  | the cat |  |  |  |  |  | nom hissing «event transitive»: poss=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pick it up quickly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:199-cat-body-language-and-cat-myths-milk-nine-lives-and-landing-on-their-feet:t12:o1:1
# text = Pick it up quickly
1	Pick	pick	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
4	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pick up** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | quickly *property* | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Leave it alone until it calms down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:199-cat-body-language-and-cat-myths-milk-nine-lives-and-landing-on-their-feet:t12:o2:1
# text = Leave it alone until it calms down
1	Leave	leave	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
4	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	calms	calm	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
7	down	down	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **calm down** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Blow in its face

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:199-cat-body-language-and-cat-myths-milk-nine-lives-and-landing-on-their-feet:t12:o3:1
# text = Blow in its face
1	Blow	blow	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blow** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  | its face |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hiss back to show who's boss

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:199-cat-body-language-and-cat-myths-milk-nine-lives-and-landing-on-their-feet:t12:o4:1
# text = Hiss back to show who's boss
1	Hiss	hiss	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	back	back	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	boss	boss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hiss back** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **show** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | boss |  |  |  |  | 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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- next →: [Cat body language and cat myths: milk,…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/199-cat-body-language-and-cat-myths-milk-nine-lives-and-landing-on-their-feet/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Cat body language and cat myths: milk, nine lives and landing on their feet](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/199-cat-body-language-and-cat-myths-milk-nine-lives-and-landing-on-their-feet/)