---
title: Ascertain the principal significance of a stiff, high and rapid wag… — Animal minds: what dogs and cats feel… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal significance of a stiff, high and rapid wag of the tail in a dog. Exam question 4 of lesson 237 «Animal minds: what dogs and cats feel and understand (and do cats really chase mice?)» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of t
---

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# Exam question 4 · Animal minds: what dogs and cats feel and understand (and…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal significance of a stiff, high and rapid wag of the tail in a dog.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain · **To what, where:** principal significance

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 237 «Animal minds: what dogs and cats feel and understand (and do cats really chase mice?)» 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/237-animal-minds-what-dogs-and-cats-feel-and-understand-and-do-cats-really-chase-mice/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:237-animal-minds-what-dogs-and-cats-feel-and-understand-and-do-cats-really-chase-mice:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal significance of a stiff, high and rapid wag of the tail in a dog.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	significance	significance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
7	stiff	stiff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	rapid	rapid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
12	wag	wag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal significance of a stiff wag of the tail in a dog |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent significance=Topic |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It may indicate tension rather than friendliness

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:237-animal-minds-what-dogs-and-cats-feel-and-understand-and-do-cats-really-chase-mice:e4:o1:1
# text = It may indicate tension rather than friendliness
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	indicate	indicate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	tension	tension	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	7	cc	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	5	fixed	_	_
7	friendliness	friendliness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **indicate** | may | It | tension |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot tension=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It invariably indicates delight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:237-animal-minds-what-dogs-and-cats-feel-and-understand-and-do-cats-really-chase-mice:e4:o2:1
# text = It invariably indicates delight
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	indicates	indicate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	delight	delight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **indicate** | present | It | delight |  |  |  | invariably *property* | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot delight=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It indicates hunger alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:237-animal-minds-what-dogs-and-cats-feel-and-understand-and-do-cats-really-chase-mice:e4:o3:1
# text = It indicates hunger alone
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	indicates	indicate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **indicate** | present | It | hunger |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot hunger=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It indicates that the dog is asleep and dreaming

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:237-animal-minds-what-dogs-and-cats-feel-and-understand-and-do-cats-really-chase-mice:e4:o4:1
# text = It indicates that the dog is asleep and dreaming
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	indicates	indicate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	dreaming	dream	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **indicate** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot |
| 2 | **is** | present | the dog |  |  |  |  | asleep *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **dream** | gerund | the dog *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn cognize-85 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ← previous: [Animal minds: what dogs and cats feel…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/237-animal-minds-what-dogs-and-cats-feel-and-understand-and-do-cats-really-chase-mice/e3/)
- next →: [Ants: colonies, queens, farmers and li…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/238-ants-colonies-queens-farmers-and-living-bridges/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Animal minds: what dogs and cats feel and understand (and do cats really chase mice?)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/237-animal-minds-what-dogs-and-cats-feel-and-understand-and-do-cats-really-chase-mice/)