---
title: A cat at a friend's house in Belfast hisses at Grace. What should sh… — Understanding cats · tree and pragmatics
description: A cat at a friend's house in Belfast hisses at Grace. What should she do? Test 7 of lesson 23 «Understanding cats» 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 7 · Understanding cats

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cat at a friend's house in Belfast hisses at Grace. What should she do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cat · **What happens:** hiss, do · **To what, where:** Grace

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 of lesson 23 «Understanding cats» 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/23-understanding-cats/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cat at a friend's house in Belfast hisses at Grace.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:23-understanding-cats:t7:1
# text = A cat at a friend's house in Belfast hisses at Grace.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Belfast	Belfast	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	hisses	hiss	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Grace	Grace	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hiss** | present | a cat at a friend's house in Belfast |  |  | Grace |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at grace=Location |

<!-- .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:* What should she do?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:23-understanding-cats:t7:2
# text = What should she do?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | should | cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Reach under to stroke it at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:23-understanding-cats:t7:o1:1
# text = Reach under to stroke it at once
1	Reach	reach	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	under	under	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	stroke	stroke	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **stroke** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Step back and leave the cat alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:23-understanding-cats:t7:o2:1
# text = Step back and leave the cat alone
1	Step	step	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
2	back	back	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **step back** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **leave** | infinitive | you *not said here* | the cat |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cat=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pick it up to show it she is kind

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:23-understanding-cats:t7:o3:1
# text = Pick it up to show it she is kind
1	Pick	pick	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pick up** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 2 | **show** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | present | she |  |  |  |  | kind *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hiss back so it learns who is boss

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:23-understanding-cats:t7:o4:1
# text = Hiss back so it learns who is boss
1	Hiss	hiss	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	back	back	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	learns	learn	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	boss	boss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hiss back** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **learn** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | boss |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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