---
title: Why might fewer babies each year be kinder to street cats in the lon… — Street dogs and cats: feeding, safety… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might fewer babies each year be kinder to street cats in the long run? Test 9 of lesson 371 «Street dogs and cats: feeding, safety and never touching a strange animal» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova
---

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# Test 9 · Street dogs and cats: feeding, safety and never touching a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might fewer babies each year be kinder to street cats in the long run?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** fewer babies · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** long run

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 371 «Street dogs and cats: feeding, safety and never touching a strange animal» 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/371-street-dogs-and-cats-feeding-safety-and-never-touching-a-strange-animal/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:371-street-dogs-and-cats-feeding-safety-and-never-touching-a-strange-animal:t9:1
# text = Why might fewer babies each year be kinder to street cats in the long run?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	fewer	few	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	amod	_	_
4	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
5	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:unmarked	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
8	kinder	kind	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	run	run	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | might | fewer babies  each year |  |  | the long run |  | to street cats; kind *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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes the cats grow bigger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:371-street-dogs-and-cats-feeding-safety-and-never-touching-a-strange-animal:t9:o1:1
# text = It makes the cats grow bigger
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	xcomp	_	_
6	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It |  |  |  |  | big *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **grow** | present | the cats |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fewer kittens are born to go hungry, and the cats already there can live on

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:371-street-dogs-and-cats-feeding-safety-and-never-touching-a-strange-animal:t9:o2:1
# text = Fewer kittens are born to go hungry, and the cats already there can live on
1	Fewer	few	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	amod	_	_
2	kittens	kitten	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
12	already	already	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
14	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | present · passive |  | Fewer kittens |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **live on** | can | the cats |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes all cats go away at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:371-street-dogs-and-cats-feeding-safety-and-never-touching-a-strange-animal:t9:o3:1
# text = It makes all cats go away at once
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	xcomp	_	_
6	away	away	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **go away** | present | all cats |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at once=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cats with no babies stop eating and so they need much less food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:371-street-dogs-and-cats-feeding-safety-and-never-touching-a-strange-animal:t9:o4:1
# text = Cats with no babies stop eating and so they need much less food
1	Cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	with	with	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
5	stop	stop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	much	much	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	13	amod	_	_
13	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | Cats with no babies |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **eat** | gerund | Cats with no babies *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **need** | present | Cats *= cat* | less food |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot food=Theme |

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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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