---
title: A cartoon knight shouts «My name starts with N!». What should the ca… — i before e, silent letters and other f… · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon knight shouts «My name starts with N!». What should the cartoon teach? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 10 «i before e, silent letters and other famous traps» 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 r
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · i before e, silent letters and other famous traps

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon knight shouts «My name starts with N!». What should the cartoon teach?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cartoon knight, name, My · **What happens:** shout, start, name · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 10 «i before e, silent letters and other famous traps» 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/10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon knight shouts «My name starts with N!».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t8:1
# text = A cartoon knight shouts «My name starts with N!».
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	shouts	shout	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	starts	start	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	N	N	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shout** *speech: express* | present | a cartoon knight |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **start** *in a quote* | present | My name |  |  |  |  | with N | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with n=Subeventuality |
| 3 | **name** *in a quote* |  | My |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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:* What should the cartoon teach?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t8:2
# text = What should the cartoon teach?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	1	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	teach	teach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Knight» starts with a silent k

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t8:o1:1
# text = «Knight» starts with a silent k
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
4	starts	start	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	k	k	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | present | Knight |  |  |  |  | with a silent k | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with k=Subeventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The knight is right, it's «Night»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t8:o2:1
# text = The knight is right, it's «Night»
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the knight |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | it | Night |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Knight» starts with a silent g

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t8:o3:1
# text = «Knight» starts with a silent g
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
4	starts	start	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	g	G	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | present | Knight |  |  |  |  | with a silent g | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with g=Subeventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Knights have no spelling

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t8:o4:1
# text = Knights have no spelling
1	Knights	knight	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

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

<!-- 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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [i before e, silent letters and other f…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps/t7/)
- next →: [i before e, silent letters and other f…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps/t9/)
- ↑ back to [i before e, silent letters and other famous traps](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps/)