---
title: How could you test the farmer's "cows lying down means rain" saying? — Pets and farm animals · tree and pragmatics
description: How could you test the farmer's "cows lying down means rain" saying? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 7 «Pets and farm animals» of the myths 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 6 · ★ · Pets and farm animals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How could you test the farmer's "cows lying down means rain" saying?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, cows · **What happens:** test, lie down, mean, say · **To what, where:** farmer, rain · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 7 «Pets and farm animals» of the myths 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/myths/7-pets-and-farm-animals/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:7-pets-and-farm-animals:t6:1
# text = How could you test the farmer's "cows lying down means rain" saying?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	test	test	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	csubj	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	parataxis	_	_
10	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	acl	_	_
11	down	down	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	_
15	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **test** | could | you | the farmer |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lie down** *in a quote* | gerund | cows *not said here* |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **mean** *in a quote* | present |  | rain |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rain=Topic |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
Ask the cows by mooing at them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:7-pets-and-farm-animals:t6:o1:1
# text = Ask the cows by mooing at them
1	Ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	mooing	moo	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | imperative | you *not said here* |  | the cows |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent cow=Recipient |
| 2 | **moo** | gerund | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at cows *= cow* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Agent at they=Stimulus |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Keep a chart of cows lying down and rain for a few weeks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:7-pets-and-farm-animals:t6:o2:1
# text = Keep a chart of cows lying down and rain for a few weeks
1	Keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	chart	chart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
6	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	down	down	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | imperative | you *not said here* | a chart of cows and rain |  |  | week |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chart=Theme |
| 2 | **lie down** | gerund | cows *not said here* |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **chart** |  |  | cows |  |  |  |  | nom chart «communication transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Check whether cows like umbrellas

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:7-pets-and-farm-animals:t6:o3:1
# text = Check whether cows like umbrellas
1	Check	check	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	umbrellas	umbrella	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **check** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | whether cows like umbrellas | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Watch one cow in the field for one minute and write it down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:7-pets-and-farm-animals:t6:o4:1
# text = Watch one cow in the field for one minute and write it down
1	Watch	watch	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	write	write	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	down	down	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **watch** | imperative | you *not said here* | one cow |  | the field | minute |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cow=Theme |
| 2 | **write down** | infinitive | you *not said here* | field |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

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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: [Pets and farm animals, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/7-pets-and-farm-animals/t5/)
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