Test 5 · Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes
Noah's sister laughs, "Mum, he's doing a dragon voice!" when he says "HO-tel". What would a French person say?
Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: sister, Noah, French person · What happens: laugh, do, say · To what, where: Mum, dragon voice, HO tel · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 5 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: Noah's sister laughs, "Mum, he's doing a dragon voice!" when he says "HO-tel".
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noah | Noah | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 sister | nmod:poss |
| 2 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 1 Noah | case |
| 3 | sister | sister | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 laughs | nsubj |
| 4 | laughs | laugh | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 Mum | punct |
| 6 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 Mum | punct |
| 7 | Mum | mum | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 laughs | obl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 doing | punct |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 doing | nsubj |
| 10 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 doing | aux |
| 11 | doing | do | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 laughs | parataxis |
| 12 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 voice | det |
| 13 | dragon | dragon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 voice | compound |
| 14 | voice | voice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 doing | obj |
| 15 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 14 voice | punct |
| 16 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 14 voice | punct |
| 17 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 19 says | advmod |
| 18 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 says | nsubj |
| 19 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 doing | advcl |
| 20 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 23 tel | punct |
| 21 | HO | ho | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 tel | compound |
| 22 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 23 tel | punct |
| 23 | tel | tel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 says | obj |
| 24 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 23 tel | punct |
| 25 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 laughs | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | laugh | present | Noah's sister | Mum | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | do in a quote | present · progressive | Noah | a dragon voice | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent voice=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | say speech: assert | present | Noah | HO tel | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent tel=Topic |
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: What would a French person say?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 6 say | obj |
| 2 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 6 say | aux |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 person | det |
| 4 | French | French | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 person | amod |
| 5 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 say | nsubj |
| 6 | say | say | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 6 say | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | would | a French person | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
The options
Option 1
"HO-tel", it is the same in every language
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 tel | punct |
| 2 | HO | ho | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 tel | compound |
| 3 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 4 tel | punct |
| 4 | tel | tel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 same | nsubj |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 tel | punct |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 tel | punct |
| 7 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 same | nsubj |
| 8 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 same | cop |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 same | det |
| 10 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 11 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 language | case |
| 12 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 13 language | det |
| 13 | language | language | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 same | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | HO tel | every language | same property | tree rules |
Option 2 · ← Mova's choice
"khoh-TEL", with a scrape in the throat
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 TEL | punct |
| 2 | khoh | khoh | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 TEL | compound |
| 3 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 4 TEL | punct |
| 4 | TEL | tel | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 TEL | punct |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 scrape | punct |
| 7 | with | with | ADP | _ | 9 scrape | case |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 scrape | det |
| 9 | scrape | scrape | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 TEL | conj |
| 10 | in | in | ADP | _ | 12 throat | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 throat | det |
| 12 | throat | throat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 scrape | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
"oh-TEL", leaving the h out
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 TEL | punct |
| 2 | oh | oh | INTJ | _ | 4 TEL | discourse |
| 3 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 2 oh | punct |
| 4 | TEL | tel | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 TEL | punct |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 leaving | punct |
| 7 | leaving | leave | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 4 TEL | appos |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 h | det |
| 9 | h | H | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 leaving | obj |
| 10 | out | out | ADP | _ | 7 leaving | compound:prt |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | leave out | gerund | the h | vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent h=Theme |
Option 4
"hoh-TELL", with a soft puff
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 TELL | punct |
| 2 | hoh | hoh | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 TELL | compound |
| 3 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 2 hoh | punct |
| 4 | TELL | tell | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 TELL | punct |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 puff | punct |
| 7 | with | with | ADP | _ | 10 puff | case |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 puff | det |
| 9 | soft | soft | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 puff | amod |
| 10 | puff | puff | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 TELL | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
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/t5/