--- title: Ben from Sunderland: «howay, the Wey's always been this size.» (howa… — Just So Stories, How the First Letter… · tree and pragmatics description: Ben from Sunderland: «howay, the Wey's always been this size.» (howay = come on) What does the poem say? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 86 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3: «a great invention» and the road on Merrow Down» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the depende --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/t9/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/) / t9 # Test 9 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3:… Ben from Sunderland: «howay, the Wey's always been this size.» (howay = come on) What does the poem say? **Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** howay, poem · **What happens:** be, come on, say · **To what, where:** size · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 86 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3: «a great invention» and the road on Merrow Down» of the books 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/#t9). ## The question {#question} *Sentence 1:* Ben from Sunderland: «howay, the Wey's always been this size.» ```conllu # sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t9:1 # text = Ben from Sunderland: «howay, the Wey's always been this size.» 1 Ben Ben PROPN NNP Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 2 from from ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 3 Sunderland Sunderland PROPN NNP Number=Sing 1 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 4 : : PUNCT : _ 6 punct _ _ 5 « « PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 howay howay NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 Wey Wey PROPN NNP Number=Sing 14 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 10 's 's PART POS _ 9 case _ _ 11 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 12 advmod _ _ 12 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 14 cop _ _ 13 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 14 det _ _ 14 size size NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 » » PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | participle | | the Wey's size | | | | | tree rules | 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:* (howay = come on) What does the poem say? ```conllu # sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t9:2 # text = (howay = come on) What does the poem say? 1 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 howay howay NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 = = SYM SYM _ 4 punct _ _ 4 come come VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 5 on on ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 4 punct _ _ 7 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 11 obj _ _ 8 does do AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 11 aux _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 poem poem NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 11 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ? ? PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **come on** | infinitive | howay | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | the poem | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic | ## The options {#options} ### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1} It was a small brook ```conllu # sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t9:o1:1 # text = It was a small brook 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 4 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 brook brook NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | It | a small brook | | | | | tree rules | ### Option 2 {#o2} It was exactly the same size as it is today ```conllu # sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t9:o2:1 # text = It was exactly the same size as it is today 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 3 exactly exactly ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 same same ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 size size NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 7 as as ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 8 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 9 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 10 cop _ _ 10 today today NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nmod _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | It | the same size | | | | exactly *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **is** | present | size | | | | as today | | tree rules | ### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3} It was more than six times bigger then ```conllu # sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t9:o3:1 # text = It was more than six times bigger then 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 cop _ _ 3 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 0 root _ _ 4 than than ADP IN _ 3 fixed _ _ 5 six six NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 6 nummod _ _ 6 times time NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obl:unmarked _ _ 7 bigger big ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 3 conj _ _ 8 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 3 advmod _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | It | | | | then | more *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **be** | | | | | | time | | tree rules | ### Option 4 {#o4} It was dry ```conllu # sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t9:o4:1 # text = It was dry 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 cop _ _ 3 dry dry ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | It | | | | | dry *property* | tree rules | **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. - ← previous: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/t8/) - next →: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/t10/) - ↑ back to [Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3: «a great invention» and the road on Merrow Down](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/)