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Test 1 · Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes

Jade whispers, "it's French, they don't say the s, you plonker." ("Plonker" means a silly person.) Is Jade right about Paris?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Jade, they, you, Plonker · What happens: whisper, be, not say, plonker, mean · To what, where: French, s, silly person · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 1 of lesson 1 «Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes» of the French 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

Sentence 1: Jade whispers, "it's French, they don't say the s, you plonker."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Jade	jade	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 whispers	nsubj
2	whispers	whisper	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 French	punct
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 French	punct
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 French	nsubj
6	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 French	cop
7	French	French	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 whispers	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 say	punct
9	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 say	nsubj
10	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 say	aux
11	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	12 say	advmod
12	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 whispers	parataxis
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 s	det
14	s	s	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 say	obj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 plonker	punct
16	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	17 plonker	nsubj
17	plonker	plonker	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 say	parataxis
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 whispers	punct
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 whispers	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	whisper speech: assert	present	Jade						vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	is a in a quote	present	Jade	French					tree rules
3	not say speech: assert in a quote	present · do-support	they	the s					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent s=Topic
4	plonker in a quote		you						tree rules

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: ("Plonker" means a silly person.)

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	(	(	PUNCT	_	5 means	punct
2	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 Plonker	punct
3	Plonker	plonker	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 means	nsubj
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 Plonker	punct
5	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 person	det
7	silly	silly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 person	amod
8	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 means	obj
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 means	punct
10	)	)	PUNCT	_	5 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	Plonker	a silly person					vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent person=Topic

Sentence 3: Is Jade right about Paris?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 right	cop
2	Jade	Jade	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 right	compound
3	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	about	about	ADP	_	5 Paris	case
5	Paris	Paris	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 right	obl
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 right	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present						about Paris; right property	tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ✓ the right answer

Yes, the final s in Paris is silent

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	9 silent	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 s	det
4	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 s	amod
5	s	s	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 silent	nsubj
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 Paris	case
7	Paris	Paris	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 s	nmod
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 silent	cop
9	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the final s in Paris					silent property	tree rules

Option 2

No, the s is silent only in English

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	6 silent	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 No	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 s	det
4	s	s	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 silent	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 silent	cop
6	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	only	only	ADV	_	9 English	advmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 English	case
9	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 silent	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the s			English		silent property	tree rules

Option 3

Yes, but only on Mondays in France

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	6 Mondays	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	but	but	CCONJ	_	6 Mondays	cc
4	only	only	ADV	_	6 Mondays	advmod
5	on	on	ADP	_	6 Mondays	case
6	Mondays	Monday	PROPN	Number=Plur	root	root
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 France	case
8	France	France	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Mondays	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

No, every letter is said in French

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	6 said	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 No	punct
3	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	4 letter	det
4	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 said	nsubj:pass
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 said	aux:pass
6	said	say	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 French	case
8	French	French	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 said	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present · passive		every letter		French			vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: subject=Theme in french=Manner

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/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/t1/