---
title: «heard a woman screaming outside at 2am, mum says it's just a fox» C… — Foxes and squirrels · tree and pragmatics
description: «heard a woman screaming outside at 2am, mum says it's just a fox» Can that be true? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 215 «Foxes and squirrels» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 1 · ★ · Foxes and squirrels

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«heard a woman screaming outside at 2am, mum says it's just a fox» Can that be true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** woman, mum, am, that · **What happens:** hear, scream, say, be · **To what, where:** woman, 2, fox · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 215 «Foxes and squirrels» 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/215-foxes-and-squirrels/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:215-foxes-and-squirrels:t1:1
# text = «heard a woman screaming outside at 2am, mum says it's just a fox» Can that be true?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	screaming	scream	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
6	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	2	2	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	am	a.m.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	just	just	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
19	Can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	cop	_	_
22	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** *in a quote* | past |  | a woman |  | 2  am |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer woman=Stimulus |
| 2 | **scream** *speech: express* *in a quote* | gerund | a woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  | outside *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | mum |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | am *= a.m.* | a fox |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | can | that |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, foxes scream at night, mostly in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:215-foxes-and-squirrels:t1:o1:1
# text = Yes, foxes scream at night, mostly in winter
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	scream	scream	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	mostly	mostly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scream** *speech: express* | present | foxes |  |  |  | night; winter |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but only in summer, when the cubs are born

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:215-foxes-and-squirrels:t1:o2:1
# text = Yes, but only in summer, when the cubs are born
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	summer	summer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	cubs	cub	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | present · passive |  | the cubs |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, foxes are silent animals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:215-foxes-and-squirrels:t1:o3:1
# text = No, foxes are silent animals
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | foxes | silent animals |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, only owls scream like that

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:215-foxes-and-squirrels:t1:o4:1
# text = No, only owls scream like that
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	owls	owl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	scream	scream	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scream** *speech: express* | present | owls |  |  |  |  | like that | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=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: [Hedgehogs: spines, hibernation and how…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/214-hedgehogs-spines-hibernation-and-how-to-help-them/e4/)
- next →: [Foxes and squirrels, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/215-foxes-and-squirrels/t2/)
- ↑ back to [Foxes and squirrels](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/215-foxes-and-squirrels/)