---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Pets and animals · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the grammatical gender of animal nouns in French? Exam question 1 of lesson 15 «Pets and animals» of the French course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice w
---

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# Exam question 1 · Pets and animals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the grammatical gender of animal nouns in French?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** grammatical gender

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 15 «Pets and animals» of the French course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/french/15-pets-and-animals/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:15-pets-and-animals:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the grammatical gender of animal nouns in French?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	gender	gender	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	nouns	noun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	French	French	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the grammatical gender of animal nouns in French |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is determined in each instance by the sex of the animal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:15-pets-and-animals:e1:o1:1
# text = It is determined in each instance by the sex of the animal
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	determined	determine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	instance	instance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sex	sex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **determine** | present · passive | the sex of the animal | It |  | each instance |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic |
| 2 | **sex** |  |  | the animal |  |  |  |  | nom sex «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is feminine for all domestic animals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:15-pets-and-animals:e1:o2:1
# text = It is feminine for all domestic animals
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	feminine	feminine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
6	domestic	domestic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | for all domestic animals; feminine *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is masculine for all animals without exception

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:15-pets-and-animals:e1:o3:1
# text = It is masculine for all animals without exception
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	masculine	masculine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	without	without	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	exception	exception	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | for all animals; without exception; masculine *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It belongs to the noun and is independent of the sex of the animal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:15-pets-and-animals:e1:o4:1
# text = It belongs to the noun and is independent of the sex of the animal
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	belongs	belong	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	independent	independent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sex	sex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **belong** | present | It |  |  |  |  | to the noun | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of the sex of the animal; independent *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **sex** |  |  | the animal |  |  |  |  | nom sex «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- div src -->

**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: [Pets and animals, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/15-pets-and-animals/t12/)
- next →: [Pets and animals, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/15-pets-and-animals/e2/)
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