---
title: Why is «be a tree» a clever trick? — Meeting a dog safely · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is «be a tree» a clever trick? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 22 «Meeting a dog safely» 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 right.
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Meeting a dog safely

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is «be a tree» a clever trick?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** tree

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 22 «Meeting a dog safely» 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/22-meeting-a-dog-safely/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:22-meeting-a-dog-safely:t4:1
# text = Why is «be a tree» a clever trick?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	trick	trick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | a tree |  |  |  | a clever trick *nmod:unmarked* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
A still, quiet person is boring to a dog, so it loses interest

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:22-meeting-a-dog-safely:t4:o1:1
# text = A still, quiet person is boring to a dog, so it loses interest
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	still	still	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	boring	boring	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	loses	lose	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
15	interest	interest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a quiet person |  |  |  |  | to a dog; boring *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **lose** | present | person | interest |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent interest=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Trees scare dogs away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:22-meeting-a-dog-safely:t4:o2:1
# text = Trees scare dogs away
1	Trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	scare	scare	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scare away** | present | Trees | dogs |  |  |  | away *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus dog=Experiencer |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dogs think trees are their friends, so they will not bite a tree

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:22-meeting-a-dog-safely:t4:o3:1
# text = Dogs think trees are their friends, so they will not bite a tree
1	Dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | present | Dogs |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | trees | trees's friends |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **bite** | future | Dogs *= dog* | a tree |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Standing still makes you invisible

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:22-meeting-a-dog-safely:t4:o4:1
# text = Standing still makes you invisible
1	Standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	nsubj	_	_
2	still	still	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	invisible	invisible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **make** | present |  | you |  |  | still | invisible *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset you=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Meeting a dog safely, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/22-meeting-a-dog-safely/t3/)
- next →: [Meeting a dog safely, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/22-meeting-a-dog-safely/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Meeting a dog safely](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/22-meeting-a-dog-safely/)