Grammar puzzles, part two
Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: ★★★ · Understood: 8 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 36 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 "the mouse was chased by the cat means the mouse did the chasing, innit." What's right?
- 1. No, the cat still did the chasing; "by the cat" shows the doer — ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 2. Yes, passive sentences swap who does what — no support
- 3. No, nobody did any chasing in that sentence — no support
- 4. Yes, whoever comes first always does the action — ← Mova's choice · score 5
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 36, line 6: «In the active voice the doer comes first: "The cat chased the mouse"; in the passive voice the thing the action is done to comes first, and "by" shows the doer…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «come» (+4); the same property (+3). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 1, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
Freya writes "Was it a car or a cat I saw?" backwards, ignoring spaces. What happens?
- 1. She gets the same letters in the same order — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. She gets a totally different sentence — score 2
- 3. She gets "I saw a cat" and nothing else — ← Mova's choice · score 3
- 4. The letters run out halfway through — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 3 with score 3, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 36, line 7: «A palindrome reads the same forwards and backwards: level, radar, kayak, racecar; "Was it a car or a cat I saw?" is a palindrome sentence if you ignore spaces…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «see» (+2); the same thing acted on «cat» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
Your Scouse cousin says "made an anagram of 'night', la, it's 'thing', dead easy." ("La" means mate, "dead" means very.) Is he right?
- 1. No, "thing" has one letter too many — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. No, the letters must stay in their places — no support
- 3. Yes, same five letters in a new order — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. No, anagrams must keep the first letter — 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 · ★★★ · right ✓
What would happen if a pangram left out the letter z?
- 1. It would no longer be a pangram — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. It would still be a pangram, z doesn't count — no support
- 3. It would become an isogram — no support
- 4. It would turn into a palindrome — 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 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
A Gen Z gamer says "no word can be nine letters with one vowel, that's cap." ("Cap" means a lie.) Which word proves him wrong?
- 1. Strengths — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Scrumptious — no support
- 3. Scratched — ← Mova's choice · score 4
- 4. Spaghetti — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 2, line 10: «The word "I" always has a capital letter in English.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «word» (+1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★★★ · right ✓
Your little bro writes "myth" and says "you can't spell without a vowel letter, dummy." What's true?
- 1. In "myth" the y does the job of a vowel — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Words without vowels are only in Welsh — no support
- 3. "Myth" really has a hidden e — no support
- 4. He's right, "myth" is spelled wrongly — 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 ✗
Your nan from Glasgow says "Ah'm fasting the day, hen." ("The day" means today; "hen" means dear.) What job is "fasting" doing?
- 1. An adverb: telling how fast — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. A verb: going without food — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. An adjective: describing speed — no support
- 4. A noun: a quick race — 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 · ★★★ · right ✓
Kai changes "I will see you tomorrow" into "I will see you yesterday". What did he forget?
- 1. Nothing, his sentence makes perfect sense — no support
- 2. To change "tomorrow" into "today" — no support
- 3. To add a question mark at the end — no support
- 4. To change the verb into the past as well — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 36, line 15: «To move "I will see you tomorrow" into the past, change both the verb and the time word: "I saw you yesterday".», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «change» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «verb» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★★★ · right ✓
Mum says "Take the last biscuit, there's one left." Dad says "Your brother left an hour ago." What's going on with "left"?
- 1. It means "still here" in one and "gone" in the other — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 2. It means exactly the same in both — score 5
- 3. It is a spelling mistake in one of them — no support
- 4. It means the opposite of right in both — score 5
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 36, line 16: «Some words mean their own opposite: "dust" can mean take dust off (dust the shelf) or put powder on (dust the cake with sugar), and "left" can mean gone (he le…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «mean» (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same doer «left» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★★★ · right ✓
Your mate says "racecar backwards is racecra, so it's not a palindrome." What did he do wrong?
- 1. Palindromes only work with three letters — no support
- 2. He made a mistake reversing it; it reads "racecar" — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 3. He's right, it isn't a palindrome — score 3
- 4. Racecar isn't a real word, so it can't count — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 2 with score 6, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 36, line 2: «Picture a wet afternoon: you write "level" on a steamy window and read it from the other side of the glass, and it's still "level"; that is a palindrome.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «read» (+3). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
Which of these is an isogram, with no letter used twice?
- 1. Letter — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Moon — no support
- 3. Lamp — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Banana — 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 ✗
Render the active sentence "The cat chased the mouse" in the passive voice.
- 1. The cat was chased by the mouse — no support
- 2. The mouse was chased by the cat — ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 3. The cat had been chasing the mouse — ← Mova's choice · score 7
- 4. The mouse chased the cat — score 4
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 7, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 36, line 6: «In the active voice the doer comes first: "The cat chased the mouse"; in the passive voice the thing the action is done to comes first, and "by" shows the doer…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «chase» (+3); the same doer «cat» (+2); the same thing acted on «mouse» (+2). The right option, 2, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the term designating a word or phrase which reads identically in both directions.
- 1. A pangram — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. A palindrome — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. An anagram — no support
- 4. An isogram — 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 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following words constitutes an anagram of "listen"?
- 1. Linnet — ← Mova's choice · score -1
- 2. Enlist — ✓ the right answer · score -1
- 3. Lessen — no support
- 4. Glisten — score -1
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score -1, tied with another option at -1 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 2, line 1: «A noun is a naming word: it names a person (girl, Mia), a place (kitchen, London), a thing (cat, mat) or an idea or feeling (happiness, fear).», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1); the same action «name» (-2). The right option, 2, scored -1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the grammatical function of "fast" in the sentence "He runs fast".
- 1. Noun — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Adverb — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Adjective — no support
- 4. Verb — 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
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/36-grammar-puzzles-part-two/