Adjectives and adverbs: describing things and actions

Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 6 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 4 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 · right ✓

Your mate writes "the massive huge giant spider". What would you tell him?

1. Swap them into alphabetical order — no support
2. Pick one size word and add a different detail — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
3. It's perfect, more adjectives are always better — no support
4. Add three more size words to make it scarier — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 4, line 1: «An adjective describes a noun (a scary dog, a red ball); an adverb tells you more about a verb: how, when, where or how often (she sang loudly, come soon).», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «noun» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1); a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · wrong ✗

Your little cousin says "a wooden old lovely box". How would most people say it?

1. a box lovely old wooden — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. a lovely old wooden box — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. a wooden lovely old box — no support
4. an old wooden lovely box — 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 · right ✓

Gran from Dudley says "Ow bist? That cake was bostin'!" ("Ow bist" means how are you.) What does she think of the cake?

1. It was brilliant — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. It was boring — no support
3. It was too sweet — no support
4. It was burnt — 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 ✗

A teacher asks "Which word tells you how often in 'We often swim'?"

1. we — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. none, often is a noun — no support
3. swim — no support
4. often — ✓ 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 5 · wrong ✗

Your brother insists "every -ly word is an adverb, end of." What sentence proves him wrong?

1. They left early — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. That was a lovely day — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. He spoke softly — no support
4. She ran quickly — 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 6 · wrong ✗

A boomer coach shouts "you guys did rad today, played real good!" ("Rad" means great.) In school writing, how would you put his praise?

1. You played very well today — ✓ the right answer · score 6
2. You played real goodest today — no support
3. You played goodly today — no support
4. You played rad good today — ← Mova's choice · score 8

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 4 with score 8, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 4, line 11: «In standard English good is an adjective (a good game) and well is the adverb (you played well); "played good" is common in casual speech, especially in Americ…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «play» (+4); the same thing acted on «good» (+4). The right option, 1, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · wrong ✗

What would happen if English had no adverbs?

1. Nothing, nouns would simply do the same job as adverbs — ← Mova's choice · score 2
2. All verbs would disappear too — score 2
3. You couldn't easily say how, when or where things happened — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Sentences would have to be questions — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 2, tied with another option at 2 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 4, line 11: «In standard English good is an adjective (a good game) and well is the adverb (you played well); "played good" is common in casual speech, especially in Americ…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · right ✓

Zoe says "worse" must be a spelling mistake for "badder". What's true?

1. Bad, worse, worst is an old irregular pattern — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Worse and badder are both school English — no support
3. Worse is the American spelling — no support
4. She's right, it should be bad, badder, baddest — 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 ✗

Grandad, hearing "wicked" from a Bostonian, thinks the pizza is evil. What's the best way to explain?

1. In Boston wicked means very, so it's very good — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Wicked means small in America — no support
3. It really is an evil pizza, with something nasty baked in — no support
4. Wicked is a Scottish word for cold — ← Mova's choice · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1, line 4: «Every language has grammar, the rules for fitting words together; "The dog ate the bone" makes sense, "Dog the bone the ate" makes people laugh, and the speake…», 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 thing acted on «words» (+2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · right ✓

A Gen Z kid says "she literally ate the exam, no cap." What's going on?

1. She copied the exam from someone — score 6
2. Literally is used to make it stronger; she did really well — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 10
3. She really ate the exam paper — score 6
4. She failed the exam badly — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 10, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 2, line 18: «In north-west England a butty is a sandwich, and "our kid" means my brother or sister, or a close mate.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same doer «kid» (+4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · right ✓

Your mate says "Dickens never used literally just to exaggerate, kids started that." What's true?

1. Writers like Dickens used it that way long ago — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. He's right, it began last year — no support
3. Nobody has ever used it to exaggerate — no support
4. It began on TikTok — 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 ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the function of an adverb?

1. It replaces a noun to avoid repetition — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It designates a person, place or object — no support
3. It joins two clauses of equal rank — no support
4. It qualifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb, indicating manner, time, place or frequency — ✓ 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

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the sequence of adjectives consistent with the established conventions of English.

1. an old lovely wooden box — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. a wooden old lovely box — no support
3. a lovely old wooden box — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. a wooden lovely old box — no support

Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, 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 ✗

Identify the correctly formed comparative and superlative of the adjective "good".

1. better, bestest — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. gooder, goodest — no support
3. better, best — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. more good, most good — 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 ✗

In respect of the word "friendly" in the phrase "a friendly dog", which statement is consistent with the established facts?

1. It is a noun denoting the dog — ← Mova's choice · score 12
2. It is a verb describing the action of the dog — score 10
3. It is an adjective, notwithstanding its termination in -ly — ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. It is an adverb, by reason of its termination in -ly — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 12, against 10 for the next best. Its support: lesson 4, line 6: «An adjective is a word that describes a noun; a synonym is a word with nearly the same meaning, like big and enormous.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same doer «word» (+4); the same thing acted on «noun» (+4). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/4-adjectives-and-adverbs/