---
title: What would happen if every sound had no fixed picture? — Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if every sound had no fixed picture? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 87 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp-fish's mouth, a tail, an egg and a snake» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each optio
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if every sound had no fixed picture?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** sound · **What happens:** happen, have, fix · **To what, where:** fixed picture

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 87 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp-fish's mouth, a tail, an egg and a snake» 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/87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth:t5:1
# text = What would happen if every sound had no fixed picture?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
9	fixed	fix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	amod	_	_
10	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | every sound | no fixed picture |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent picture=Patient |
| 3 | **fix** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .note -->
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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Daddy would draw only carp-fish all day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth:t5:o1:1
# text = Daddy would draw only carp-fish all day
1	Daddy	daddy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	draw	draw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	carp	carp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **draw** | would | Daddy | carp fish |  |  | day |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The baby would learn to talk much faster

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth:t5:o2:1
# text = The baby would learn to talk much faster
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	much	much	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | would | the baby |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **talk** | to-infinitive | the baby *not said here* |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody could be sure how to read the signs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth:t5:o3:1
# text = Nobody could be sure how to read the signs
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	read	read	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | could | Nobody |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **read** | to-infinitive | Nobody *not said here* | the signs |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sign=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Every cave on the hill would be painted over and the children would have to learn all the sounds by heart

<!-- fold The tree, 21 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth:t5:o4:1
# text = Every cave on the hill would be painted over and the children would have to learn all the sounds by heart
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	painted	paint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	over	over	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	19	det:predet	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	sounds	sound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **paint over** | would · passive |  | every cave on the hill |  |  |  | over *property* | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: subject=Destination |
| 2 | **have** | would | the children |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **learn** | to-infinitive | the children *not said here* | all sounds |  |  |  | by heart | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sound=Topic |

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**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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth/t4/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp-fish's mouth, a tail, an egg and a snake](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth/)