Test 4 · ★ · Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were"…

What would happen if Kai wrote "we was" in his SATs grammar test?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Kai, we · What happens: happen, write, be, test · To what, where: SATs grammar test · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 38 «Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were" in writing» of the English 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 happen	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 happen	aux
3	happen	happen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	if	if	SCONJ	_	6 wrote	mark
5	Kai	Kai	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 wrote	nsubj
6	wrote	write	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 happen	advcl
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 was	punct
8	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	9 was	nsubj
9	was	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 wrote	ccomp
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 happen	punct
11	in	in	ADP	_	15 test	case
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 test	nmod:poss
13	SATs	sat	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 test	compound
14	grammar	grammar	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 test	compound
15	test	test	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 happen	obl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 happen	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	roles by
1	happen	would		Kai's SATs grammar test	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in test=Location
2	write a condition, not said to happen	past	Kai		vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	be in a quote	past	we		vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	test		Kai		nom test «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

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

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

He would get extra marks for using his own home dialect

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 get	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 get	aux
3	get	get	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	extra	extra	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 marks	amod
5	marks	mark	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 get	obj
6	for	for	SCONJ	_	7 using	mark
7	using	use	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 get	advcl
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 dialect	nmod:poss
9	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 dialect	amod
10	home	home	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 dialect	compound
11	dialect	dialect	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 using	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	get	would	He	extra marks					vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer mark=Stimulus
2	use	gerund	He not said here	his own home dialect					vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dialect=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

He would lose the mark, as it asks for Standard English

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 lose	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 lose	aux
3	lose	lose	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 mark	det
5	mark	mark	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lose	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 asks	punct
7	as	as	SCONJ	_	9 asks	mark
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 asks	nsubj
9	asks	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 lose	advcl
10	for	for	ADP	_	12 English	case
11	Standard	Standard	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 English	compound
12	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 asks	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	would	He	the mark					vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mark=Eventuality
2	ask speech: ask	present	mark					for Standard English	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Nothing, because tests accept every dialect

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 accept	punct
3	because	because	SCONJ	_	5 accept	mark
4	tests	test	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 accept	nsubj
5	accept	accept	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Nothing	conj
6	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	7 dialect	det
7	dialect	dialect	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 accept	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accept	present	tests	every dialect					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dialect=Theme

Option 4

The test would be cancelled

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 test	det
2	test	test	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 cancelled	nsubj:pass
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 cancelled	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 cancelled	aux:pass
5	cancelled	cancel	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cancel	would · passive		the test					tree rules

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/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/t4/