---
title: In a cartoon, two cats sit on a fence and meow a long chat to each o… — How animals talk · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon, two cats sit on a fence and meow a long chat to each other. What is more true of real adult cats? Test 2 · ★★★ of lesson 50 «How animals talk» 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 r
---

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# Test 2 · ★★★ · How animals talk

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon, two cats sit on a fence and meow a long chat to each other. What is more true of real adult cats?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** two cats · **What happens:** sit, meow, be · **To what, where:** cartoon, long chat

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This is test 2 · ★★★ of lesson 50 «How animals talk» 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/50-how-animals-talk/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon, two cats sit on a fence and meow a long chat to each other.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:50-how-animals-talk:t2:1
# text = In a cartoon, two cats sit on a fence and meow a long chat to each other.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	sit	sit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	fence	fence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	meow	meow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	chat	chat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	12	obl	_	_
18	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | present | two cats |  |  | a cartoon |  | on a fence | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in cartoon=Location |
| 2 | **meow** | present | two cats *not said here* | a long chat |  |  |  | to each | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent chat=Theme |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is more true of real adult cats?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:50-how-animals-talk:t2:2
# text = What is more true of real adult cats?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	amod	_	_
4	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	adult	adult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of real adult cats; true *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They meow to each other all day long

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:50-how-animals-talk:t2:o1:1
# text = They meow to each other all day long
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	meow	meow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	2	obl	_	_
5	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	fixed	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **meow** | present | They |  | each |  | day | long *property* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to each=Recipient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They rarely meow to each other; meowing is mostly for people

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:50-how-animals-talk:t2:o2:1
# text = They rarely meow to each other; meowing is mostly for people
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	rarely	rarely	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	meow	meow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	3	obl	_	_
6	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
8	meowing	meow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	mostly	mostly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **meow** | present | They |  | each |  |  | rarely *property* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to each=Recipient |
| 2 | **meow** | gerund | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for people | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | mostly *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They speak with their whiskers in words

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:50-how-animals-talk:t2:o3:1
# text = They speak with their whiskers in words
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	speak	speak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	whiskers	whisker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | They |  |  | words |  | with their whiskers | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with whisker=Co-Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They only talk by purring

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:50-how-animals-talk:t2:o4:1
# text = They only talk by purring
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	talk	talk	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	purring	purr	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **purr** | gerund | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: 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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