---
title: Yo, were the cats fighting in the kitchen or what? — Violet Fairy Book, The Colony of Cats,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Yo, were the cats fighting in the kitchen or what? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 719 «Violet Fairy Book, The Colony of Cats, part 1: Labakan's tailor shop and Lizina's first days with the cats» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each o
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Violet Fairy Book, The Colony of Cats, part 1: Labakan's t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yo, were the cats fighting in the kitchen or what?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cats · **What happens:** fight · **To what, where:** kitchen

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 719 «Violet Fairy Book, The Colony of Cats, part 1: Labakan's tailor shop and Lizina's first days with the cats» 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/719-pg2435-part59/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:719-pg2435-part59:t8:1
# text = Yo, were the cats fighting in the kitchen or what?
1	Yo	yo	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	fighting	fight	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight** | past · progressive | the cats |  |  | the kitchen |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
They purred, they were happy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:719-pg2435-part59:t8:o1:1
# text = They purred, they were happy
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	purred	purr	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **purr** | past | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | they |  |  |  |  | happy *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They chased mice everywhere

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:719-pg2435-part59:t8:o2:1
# text = They chased mice everywhere
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	chased	chase	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chase** | past | They | mice |  |  |  | everywhere *property* | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouse=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They yowled at the cook and then fought a tiny mouse under the table

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:719-pg2435-part59:t8:o3:1
# text = They yowled at the cook and then fought a tiny mouse under the table
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	yowled	yowl	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	cook	cook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
8	fought	fight	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	under	under	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **yowl** | past | They |  |  |  |  | at the cook | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Agent at cook=Stimulus |
| 2 | **fight** | past | They *not said here* | a tiny mouse |  | the table | then |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouse=Co-Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They hissed and scratched, then purred and slept by the stove all afternoon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:719-pg2435-part59:t8:o4:1
# text = They hissed and scratched, then purred and slept by the stove all afternoon
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hissed	hiss	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	scratched	scratch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
7	purred	purr	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	slept	sleep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	stove	stove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
14	afternoon	afternoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hiss** | past | They |  |  |  | afternoon |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **scratch** | past | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **purr** | participle | They *not said here* |  |  |  | then |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **sleep** | participle | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by the stove | vn snooze-40.4-1 «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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Violet Fairy Book, The Colony of Cats,…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/719-pg2435-part59/t7/)
- next →: [Violet Fairy Book, The Colony of Cats,…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/719-pg2435-part59/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Violet Fairy Book, The Colony of Cats, part 1: Labakan's tailor shop and Lizina's first days with the cats](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/719-pg2435-part59/)