Verbs: doing words and being words
Tests: 2 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 3 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 3 of the language course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · wrong ✗
Your mate goes "a sentence with no verb is fine if it's well long." Is he right?
- 1. Yes, if it has lots of nouns — no support
- 2. Yes, length alone makes a sentence complete — score 1
- 3. No, it needs at least three verbs — ← Mova's choice · score 6
- 4. No, a full sentence needs at least one verb — ✓ the right answer · score 6
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 3, line 7: «A sentence is a group of words with a subject and a verb that makes complete sense; every full sentence has at least one verb.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «one verb» (+4); the same doer «full sentence» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · wrong ✗
Ben first says the verb in "The dog barked" is "dog". What question would help him?
- 1. Which word has a capital? — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Which word says what happened? — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Which word is first? — no support
- 4. Which word is the longest? — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · wrong ✗
A Gen Z cousin says "ngl 'ate' is ruined now, it doesn't mean food anymore." ("Ngl" means not gonna lie.) What's true?
- 1. "Ate" was never a verb — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. He's right, the word eat has lost its old meaning completely — no support
- 3. The old meaning stays and the slang meaning is added — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. The slang meaning was there first — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · wrong ✗
What would happen if verbs never agreed with their subjects?
- 1. Nobody could say "I" — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Nothing at all, it would sound exactly the same and mean the same too — no support
- 3. Some sentences would be less clear about how many are doing it — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. All verbs would end in -ing — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · right ✓
Your cousin says "you can't google something, Google's a company, innit." What's the best reply?
- 1. He's right, brand names can never be used as verbs in English — score 4
- 2. Brand names often become verbs, like google and hoover — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
- 3. Only in America is googling allowed — no support
- 4. To google means to buy a phone — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 9, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 3, line 15: «Brand names can become verbs: in British English "to hoover" means to vacuum, from the Hoover company; "to google" works the same way.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same action «become» (+2); the same doer «brand names» (+2); the same thing acted on «verbs» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · wrong ✗
In a video game, the hero only "does" things: run, jump, hit. A gamer says "thinking ain't a verb cos you can't see it." Is that right?
- 1. Yes, verbs must be visible — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Yes, think is a noun — no support
- 3. No, think is a mental verb — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. No, think is an adjective — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · wrong ✗
Dylan says "In 'You must stop', there is only one verb." What's true?
- 1. There is no verb at all — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Must is a helping verb and stop is the main verb — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. You is the main verb — no support
- 4. Must is a noun — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · wrong ✗
Mira from Derby says her pal from Bristol is "proper nesh" for wearing a scarf in May. What does she mean?
- 1. Her pal is very fashionable and loves scarves — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Her pal is very brave — no support
- 3. Her pal is very angry — no support
- 4. Her pal feels the cold very easily — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · wrong ✗
Your brother writes "We should of left earlier." What should it be?
- 1. We should off left earlier — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. We should of leaved earlier — no support
- 3. We should have left earlier — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. We should has left earlier — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · wrong ✗
Gran from Gateshead says "Howay, pet, we're gannin' yem." ("Yem" is home, "pet" is a friendly word like love.) What is she saying?
- 1. Hurry, pet, we're getting a dog — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Come on, love, we're going home — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Stop, love, we're staying here — no support
- 4. Look, pet, we're gaining weight — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · right ✓
Why is "be" so hard to spot as a verb?
- 1. It shows being, not action, and changes form: am, is, was — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. It is spelled differently in every English-speaking country — no support
- 3. It is usually left out of sentences — no support
- 4. It only appears in questions — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the verb contained in the sentence "The dog barked".
- 1. the — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The dog — no support
- 3. barked — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. dog — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the word "is" in the sentence "The sky is blue"?
- 1. It is an adjective qualifying the colour — ← Mova's choice · score 12
- 2. It is a noun denoting the atmosphere — score 12
- 3. It is a form of the verb "be", denoting a state rather than an action — ✓ the right answer · score 12
- 4. It is not a word of any recognised class — score 6
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 12, tied with another option at 12 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 3, line 2: «Not all verbs are busy: "The sky is blue" has the verb is, a being word; am, is, are, was and were are all forms of the verb be, the most common verb in Englis…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same doer «sky» (+4); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). The right option, 3, scored 12. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓
Ascertain the correct written form of the expression commonly heard as "could of come".
- 1. could have come — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. could off come — no support
- 3. could has come — no support
- 4. could of came — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Given a subject comprising two persons, select the response consistent with the rules of agreement in standard English.
- 1. Ali and me goes to the park — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Ali and I goes to the park — no support
- 3. Ali and I go to the park — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Me and Ali goes to the park — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
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