---
title: Was the cat, like, actually singing? — German Popular Stories, The Cottager A… · tree and pragmatics
description: Was the cat, like, actually singing? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 689 «German Popular Stories, The Cottager And His Cat, part 1: a miser's son obeys a strange dream and buys a cat» of the books 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 7 · ★ · German Popular Stories, The Cottager And His Cat, part 1:…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Was the cat, like, actually singing?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be, sing · **To what, where:** cat · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 689 «German Popular Stories, The Cottager And His Cat, part 1: a miser's son obeys a strange dream and buys a cat» of the books 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/books/689-pg2435-part29/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:689-pg2435-part29:t7:1
# text = Was the cat, like, actually singing?
1	Was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	csubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	like	like	INTJ	UH	_	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the cat |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | actually *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nah, it just purred softly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:689-pg2435-part29:t7:o1:1
# text = Nah, it just purred softly
1	Nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	purred	purr	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **purr** | past | it |  |  |  |  | softly *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, it sang in an odd way

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:689-pg2435-part29:t7:o2:1
# text = Yeah, it sang in an odd way
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | it |  |  | a odd way |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in way=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nah, it meowed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:689-pg2435-part29:t7:o3:1
# text = Nah, it meowed
1	Nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	meowed	meow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **meow** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nope, silent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:689-pg2435-part29:t7:o4:1
# text = Nope, silent
1	Nope	nope	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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: [German Popular Stories, The Cottager A…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/689-pg2435-part29/t6/)
- next →: [German Popular Stories, The Cottager A…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/689-pg2435-part29/t8/)
- ↑ back to [German Popular Stories, The Cottager And His Cat, part 1: a miser's son obeys a strange dream and buys a cat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/689-pg2435-part29/)