Test 4 · ★ · Plurals: les, des and silent s
★ A boy says "un animal, deux animaux" and his little sister asks why it sounds different. What changed?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, boy, little sister, animaux · What happens: ★, say, ask, sound, change · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 26 «Plurals: les, des and silent s» 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: ★ A boy says "un animal, deux animaux" and his little sister asks why it sounds different.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ★ | ★ | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 boy | det |
| 3 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 says | nsubj |
| 4 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 1 ★ | parataxis |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 animal | punct |
| 6 | un | un | X | Foreign=Yes | 7 animal | compound |
| 7 | animal | animal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 says | ccomp |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 animaux | punct |
| 9 | deux | deux | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 animaux | compound |
| 10 | animaux | animaux | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 animal | conj |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 animal | punct |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 asks | cc |
| 13 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 sister | nmod:poss |
| 14 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 sister | amod |
| 15 | sister | sister | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 asks | nsubj |
| 16 | asks | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 says | conj |
| 17 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 19 sounds | advmod |
| 18 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 sounds | nsubj |
| 19 | sounds | sound | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 asks | ccomp |
| 20 | different | different | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 sounds | xcomp |
| 21 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 ★ | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ★ | imperative | you not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | present | a boy | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | ask speech: ask | present | boy's little sister | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | sound | present | animaux | different property | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
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 changed?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 2 changed | nsubj |
| 2 | changed | change | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 2 changed | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | change | past | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Nothing, they sound the same
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 4 sound | vocative |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Nothing | punct |
| 3 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 sound | nsubj |
| 4 | sound | sound | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 same | det |
| 6 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 sound | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | sound | present | they | the same | Nothing vocative | vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location same=Theme |
Option 2
The s at the end is now said aloud
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 s | det |
| 2 | s | s | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 said | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | at | at | ADP | _ | 5 end | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 end | det |
| 5 | end | end | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 s | nmod |
| 6 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 said | aux:pass |
| 7 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 8 said | advmod |
| 8 | said | say | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 9 | aloud | aloud | ADV | _ | 8 said | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present · passive | the s at the end | now | aloud property | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
-al became -aux, said "oh"
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 3 became | punct |
| 2 | al | al | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 became | nsubj |
| 3 | became | become | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 5 aux | punct |
| 5 | aux | aux | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 became | obl |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 said | punct |
| 7 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 became | conj |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 oh | punct |
| 9 | oh | oh | INTJ | _ | 7 said | ccomp |
| 10 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 oh | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | become | past | al | aux | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | al not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
Option 4
The word got a new, feminine gender
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 word | det |
| 2 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 got | nsubj |
| 3 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 gender | det |
| 5 | new | new | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 gender | amod |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 new | punct |
| 7 | feminine | feminine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 gender | amod |
| 8 | gender | gender | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 got | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | get | past | the word | a new feminine gender | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer gender=Stimulus |
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/26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s/t4/