---
title: «put a sticker on a cat's paw, it pulls it off, so cats pass the mir… — How scientists test animal minds: the… · tree and pragmatics
description: «put a sticker on a cat's paw, it pulls it off, so cats pass the mirror test» What is wrong? Test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 389 «How scientists test animal minds: the mirror test, puzzle boxes and Clever Hans» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the que
---

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# Test 9 · ★★★ · How scientists test animal minds: the mirror test, puzzle…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«put a sticker on a cat's paw, it pulls it off, so cats pass the mirror test» What is wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** sticker, cats · **What happens:** put, pull off, pass, be · **To what, where:** sticker, paw, mirror test

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 389 «How scientists test animal minds: the mirror test, puzzle boxes and Clever Hans» 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/389-how-scientists-test-animal-minds-the-mirror-test-puzzle-boxes-and-clever-hans/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:389-how-scientists-test-animal-minds-the-mirror-test-puzzle-boxes-and-clever-hans:t9:1
# text = «put a sticker on a cat's paw, it pulls it off, so cats pass the mirror test» What is wrong?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sticker	sticker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	paw	paw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	pulls	pull	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	off	off	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
18	pass	pass	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	test	test	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
23	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	25	nsubj	_	_
24	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
25	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** *in a quote* | infinitive | sticker *not said here* | a sticker |  | a cat's paw |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent sticker=Theme on paw=Destination |
| 2 | **pull off** *in a quote* | present | sticker | paw |  |  |  |  | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 3 | **pass** *in a quote* | present | cats | the mirror test |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme test=Trajectory |
| 4 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | wrong *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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The paw is too small for a sticker

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:389-how-scientists-test-animal-minds-the-mirror-test-puzzle-boxes-and-clever-hans:t9:o1:1
# text = The paw is too small for a sticker
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	paw	paw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sticker	sticker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the paw |  |  |  |  | for a sticker; small *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing is wrong, cats pass

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:389-how-scientists-test-animal-minds-the-mirror-test-puzzle-boxes-and-clever-hans:t9:o2:1
# text = Nothing is wrong, cats pass
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	pass	pass	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Nothing |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | present | cats |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cats have no paws

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:389-how-scientists-test-animal-minds-the-mirror-test-puzzle-boxes-and-clever-hans:t9:o3:1
# text = Cats have no paws
1	Cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Cats | no paws |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent paw=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It could see the paw without a mirror, so the test means nothing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:389-how-scientists-test-animal-minds-the-mirror-test-puzzle-boxes-and-clever-hans:t9:o4:1
# text = It could see the paw without a mirror, so the test means nothing
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	paw	paw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	without	without	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	test	test	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
14	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | could | It | the paw |  |  |  | without a mirror | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer paw=Stimulus |
| 2 | **mean** | present | the test | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |

<!-- 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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