---
title: Kai in Auckland: «Mum says the th in thin is buzzy, sweet as». Spot… — Sounds and letters: how phonics starts · tree and pragmatics
description: Kai in Auckland: «Mum says the th in thin is buzzy, sweet as». Spot the slip. Test 6 of lesson 1 «Sounds and letters: how phonics starts» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 6 · Sounds and letters: how phonics starts

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Kai in Auckland: «Mum says the th in thin is buzzy, sweet as». Spot the slip.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Kai, th, you · **What happens:** say, be, spot · **To what, where:** slip · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 1 «Sounds and letters: how phonics starts» of the English 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/english/1-sounds-and-letters-how-phonics-starts/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Kai in Auckland: «Mum says the th in thin is buzzy, sweet as».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:1-sounds-and-letters-how-phonics-starts:t6:1
# text = Kai in Auckland: «Mum says the th in thin is buzzy, sweet as».
1	Kai	Kai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	Auckland	Auckland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	th	th	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	nmod	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	buzzy	buzzy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	ccomp	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | Kai in Auckland |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the th in thin |  |  |  |  | buzzy *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Spot the slip.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:1-sounds-and-letters-how-phonics-starts:t6:2
# text = Spot the slip.
1	Spot	spot	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	slip	slip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spot** | imperative | you *not said here* | the slip |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme slip=Destination |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No slip, thin is the buzzy th

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:1-sounds-and-letters-how-phonics-starts:t6:o1:1
# text = No slip, thin is the buzzy th
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	slip	slip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	buzzy	buzzy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	th	th	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | no slip | the buzzy th |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Thin is the quiet th; this is the buzzy one

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:1-sounds-and-letters-how-phonics-starts:t6:o2:1
# text = Thin is the quiet th; this is the buzzy one
1	Thin	Thin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	th	th	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
7	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	buzzy	buzzy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Thin | the quiet th |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | this | the buzzy one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Thin has no th sound at all, only t

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:1-sounds-and-letters-how-phonics-starts:t6:o3:1
# text = Thin has no th sound at all, only t
1	Thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	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	5	det	_	_
4	th	th	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	only	only	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	t	t	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Thin | no th sound and t |  | all |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sound=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Th always makes exactly one sound

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:1-sounds-and-letters-how-phonics-starts:t6:o4:1
# text = Th always makes exactly one sound
1	Th	th	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Th | one sound |  |  |  | always *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset sound=Product |

<!-- div src -->

**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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