---
title: A boy wants to stroke a stranger's puppy in the street. What should… — Being gentle with small animals · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy wants to stroke a stranger's puppy in the street. What should he do first? Test 5 of lesson 288 «Being gentle with small animals» 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 5 · Being gentle with small animals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy wants to stroke a stranger's puppy in the street. What should he do first?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** want, stroke, do · **To what, where:** puppy, street

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 288 «Being gentle with small animals» 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/288-being-gentle-with-small-animals/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy wants to stroke a stranger's puppy in the street.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:288-being-gentle-with-small-animals:t5:1
# text = A boy wants to stroke a stranger's puppy in the street.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wants	want	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	stroke	stroke	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	puppy	puppy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | present | a boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **stroke** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a boy *not said here* | a stranger's puppy |  | the street |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent puppy=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 he do first?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:288-being-gentle-with-small-animals:t5:2
# text = What should he do first?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Shout to make the puppy look at him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:288-being-gentle-with-small-animals:t5:o1:1
# text = Shout to make the puppy look at him
1	Shout	shout	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	puppy	puppy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shout** *speech: express* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | the puppy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **look** | infinitive | the puppy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at puppy | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at he=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Grab the puppy before it runs off

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:288-being-gentle-with-small-animals:t5:o2:1
# text = Grab the puppy before it runs off
1	Grab	grab	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	puppy	puppy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	runs	run	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
7	off	off	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grab** | imperative | you *not said here* | the puppy |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent puppy=Theme |
| 2 | **run off** | present | puppy |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ask the owner if he may

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:288-being-gentle-with-small-animals:t5:o3:1
# text = Ask the owner if he may
1	Ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	owner	owner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | imperative | you *not said here* | the owner |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent owner=Recipient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pick it up to see if it is friendly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:288-being-gentle-with-small-animals:t5:o4:1
# text = Pick it up to see if it is friendly
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	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|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	friendly	friendly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .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 | **see** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | it |  |  |  |  | friendly *property* | 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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