---
title: A cat falls and lands with its legs bent. How do the bent legs help? — Balance and falling well · tree and pragmatics
description: A cat falls and lands with its legs bent. How do the bent legs help? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 2 «Balance and falling well» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Balance and falling well

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cat falls and lands with its legs bent. How do the bent legs help?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cat, bent legs · **What happens:** fall, land, bend, do, help · **To what, where:** legs

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 2 «Balance and falling well» of the everyday 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/everyday/2-balance-and-falling-well/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cat falls and lands with its legs bent.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:2-balance-and-falling-well:t8:1
# text = A cat falls and lands with its legs bent.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	falls	fall	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	lands	land	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
9	bent	bend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | present | a cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **land** | present | a cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with cat's legs | vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **bend** | participle |  | cat's legs *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* How do the bent legs help?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:2-balance-and-falling-well:t8:2
# text = How do the bent legs help?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	bent	bent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	help	help	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present | the bent legs *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **help** | present | the bent legs |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They slow the stop and soften the landing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:2-balance-and-falling-well:t8:o1:1
# text = They slow the stop and soften the landing
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	slow	slow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	stop	stop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	soften	soften	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	landing	landing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slow** | present | They | the stop |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent stop=Patient |
| 2 | **soften** | infinitive | They *not said here* | the landing |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent landing=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They make the cat lighter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:2-balance-and-falling-well:t8:o2:1
# text = They make the cat lighter
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	lighter	light	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | They | the cat |  |  |  | light *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset cat=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They let the cat fall more slowly through the air to the ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:2-balance-and-falling-well:t8:o3:1
# text = They let the cat fall more slowly through the air to the ground
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	7	advmod	_	_
7	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
8	through	through	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | past | They | the cat |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **fall** | infinitive | the cat *not said here* |  |  | the air |  | to the ground; slowly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme through air=Initial\_Location to ground=Destination |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They make the ground softer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:2-balance-and-falling-well:t8:o4:1
# text = They make the ground softer
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	softer	soft	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | They | the ground |  |  |  | soft *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset ground=Product |

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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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