Exam question 4 · Tense consistency and verb forms
It is given that a speaker says "I were going to the shop". Ascertain the corresponding Standard English form.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: speaker, you · What happens: give, say, go, ascertain, correspond · To what, where: It, shop, corresponding form, Standard English · Speech: someone speaks here
This is exam question 4 of lesson 31 «Tense consistency and verb forms» of the English 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.
The question
Sentence 1: It is given that a speaker says "I were going to the shop".
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 given | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | aux:pass |
| 3 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 7 says | mark |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 speaker | det |
| 6 | speaker | speaker | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 says | nsubj |
| 7 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | advcl |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 going | punct |
| 9 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 11 going | nsubj |
| 10 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 going | aux |
| 11 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 7 says | ccomp |
| 12 | to | to | ADP | _ | 14 shop | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 shop | det |
| 14 | shop | shop | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 going | obl |
| 15 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 going | punct |
| 16 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 given | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | present · passive | It | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | present | a speaker | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | go in a quote | past · progressive | a speaker = speaker | the shop | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to shop=Initial_Location |
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.
Sentence 2: Ascertain the corresponding Standard English form.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ascertain | ascertain | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 form | det |
| 3 | corresponding | correspond | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 6 form | compound |
| 4 | Standard | Standard | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 English | compound |
| 5 | English | English | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 corresponding | obj |
| 6 | form | form | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Ascertain | obj |
| 7 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Ascertain | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ascertain | imperative | you not said here | the corresponding form | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Topic | ||||
| 2 | correspond | gerund | Standard English | tree rules |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
I were went to the shop
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 3 went | nsubj |
| 2 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 went | cop |
| 3 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 shop | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 shop | det |
| 6 | shop | shop | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 went | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | I | to the shop; go property | tree rules |
Option 2
I be going to the shop
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 3 going | nsubj |
| 2 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 3 going | aux |
| 3 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 shop | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 shop | det |
| 6 | shop | shop | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 going | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | infinitive · progressive | I | the shop | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to shop=Initial_Location |
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
I was going to the shop
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 3 going | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 going | aux |
| 3 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 shop | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 shop | det |
| 6 | shop | shop | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 going | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past · progressive | I | the shop | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to shop=Initial_Location |
Option 4
I am going to the shop yesterday
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 3 going | nsubj |
| 2 | am | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 going | aux |
| 3 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 shop | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 shop | det |
| 6 | shop | shop | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 going | obl |
| 7 | yesterday | yesterday | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 going | obl:unmarked |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | present · progressive | I | the shop | yesterday | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to shop=Initial_Location |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms/e4/