---
title: why's the cat creeping so slow at the bird — Thinking about noticing · tree and pragmatics
description: why's the cat creeping so slow at the bird Test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 20 «Thinking about noticing» 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 11 · ★★★ · Thinking about noticing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
why's the cat creeping so slow at the bird

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cat · **What happens:** creep

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This is test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 20 «Thinking about noticing» 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/20-noticing-like-a-cat/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:20-noticing-like-a-cat:t11:1
# text = why's the cat creeping so slow at the bird
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	creeping	creep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **creep** | present · progressive | the cat |  |  |  |  | slow *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «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 -->
To keep its soft paws nice and clean

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:20-noticing-like-a-cat:t11:o1:1
# text = To keep its soft paws nice and clean
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	clean	clean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  | its soft paws |  |  |  | nice *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent paw=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because birds cannot hear it at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:20-noticing-like-a-cat:t11:o2:1
# text = Because birds cannot hear it at all
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **hear** | can | birds | it |  | all |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cats are always tired after a long sleep

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:20-noticing-like-a-cat:t11:o3:1
# text = Cats are always tired after a long sleep
1	Cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	after	after	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Cats |  |  |  | after a long sleep | always, tired *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Slow movement is hard to notice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:20-noticing-like-a-cat:t11:o4:1
# text = Slow movement is hard to notice
1	Slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	movement	movement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	notice	notice	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Slow movement |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **notice** | to-infinitive | Slow movement *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

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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: [Thinking about noticing, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/20-noticing-like-a-cat/t10/)
- next →: [Thinking about noticing, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/20-noticing-like-a-cat/t12/)
- ↑ back to [Thinking about noticing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/20-noticing-like-a-cat/)