---
title: Why do people think cats lived with humans at least 9,500 years ago? — Leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and the ho… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do people think cats lived with humans at least 9,500 years ago? Test 12 · ★★ of lesson 20 «Leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and the house cat» 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 12 · ★★ · Leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and the house cat

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do people think cats lived with humans at least 9,500 years ago?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** people, cats · **What happens:** think, live · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 12 · ★★ of lesson 20 «Leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and the house cat» 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/20-leopards-jaguars-cheetahs-and-the-house-cat/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:20-leopards-jaguars-cheetahs-and-the-house-cat:t12:1
# text = Why do people think cats lived with humans at least 9,500 years ago?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	humans	human	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	nmod	_	_
11	9,500	9,500	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | present · do-support | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **live** | past | cats |  |  |  |  | with humans; ago *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with human=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
Old cave paintings show cats sitting next to people at the fire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:20-leopards-jaguars-cheetahs-and-the-house-cat:t12:o1:1
# text = Old cave paintings show cats sitting next to people at the fire
1	Old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
2	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	paintings	painting	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	next	next	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | Old cave paintings |  | cats |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent cat=Recipient |
| 2 | **sit** | gerund | cats *not said here* |  |  | the fire |  | to people; next *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at fire=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cats told us in old stories

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:20-leopards-jaguars-cheetahs-and-the-house-cat:t12:o2:1
# text = Cats told us in old stories
1	Cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	iobj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Cats |  | us | old stories |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cat was found buried with a person on Cyprus from that time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:20-leopards-jaguars-cheetahs-and-the-house-cat:t12:o3:1
# text = A cat was found buried with a person on Cyprus from that time
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	xcomp	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Cyprus	Cyprus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	det	_	_
13	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past · passive |  | a cat |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 2 | **bury** | participle | a cat *not said here* |  |  |  | time | with a person on Cyprus | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cats appear in the oldest books

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:20-leopards-jaguars-cheetahs-and-the-house-cat:t12:o4:1
# text = Cats appear in the oldest books
1	Cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	appear	appear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	oldest	old	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	amod	_	_
6	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **appear** | present | Cats |  |  | the oldest books |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in book=Location |

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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.

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- next →: [Leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and the ho…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/20-leopards-jaguars-cheetahs-and-the-house-cat/e1/)
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