---
title: why does English need four words "the day after tomorrow" when Chine… — Today, tomorrow, now, later · tree and pragmatics
description: why does English need four words "the day after tomorrow" when Chinese has one? Test 6 of lesson 21 «Today, tomorrow, now, later» of the Chinese street course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 6 · Today, tomorrow, now, later

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
why does English need four words "the day after tomorrow" when Chinese has one?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** English, Chinese · **What happens:** need, have · **To what, where:** four words, one

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 21 «Today, tomorrow, now, later» of the Chinese street 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/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:21-today-tomorrow-now-later:t6:1
# text = why does English need four words "the day after tomorrow" when Chinese has one?
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
5	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	after	after	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	tomorrow	tomorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
14	Chinese	Chinese	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | English | four words |  |  | day; tomorrow |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot word=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | present | Chinese | one |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Chinese is a shorter language overall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:21-today-tomorrow-now-later:t6:o1:1
# text = Chinese is a shorter language overall
1	Chinese	Chinese	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	shorter	short	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	overall	overall	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Chinese | a shorter language |  |  |  | overall *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
English is older, so its words are long

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:21-today-tomorrow-now-later:t6:o2:1
# text = English is older, so its words are long
1	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | English |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | its words |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **word** |  | its *= it* |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Chinese has no word either

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:21-today-tomorrow-now-later:t6:o3:1
# text = Chinese has no word either
1	Chinese	Chinese	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	either	either	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Chinese | no word |  |  |  | either *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
English just has no single word for it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:21-today-tomorrow-now-later:t6:o4:1
# text = English just has no single word for it
1	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	just	just	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
5	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | English | no single word |  |  |  | for word | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |

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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.

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