---
title: A cartoon bear holds a sign: «Bare crossing». What is wrong? — Homophones and near-homophones · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon bear holds a sign: «Bare crossing». What is wrong? Test 7 of lesson 11 «Homophones and near-homophones» 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 right.
---

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# Test 7 · Homophones and near-homophones

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon bear holds a sign: «Bare crossing». What is wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cartoon bear · **What happens:** hold, be · **To what, where:** sign

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 of lesson 11 «Homophones and near-homophones» 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/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon bear holds a sign: «Bare crossing».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:11-homophones-and-near-homophones:t7:1
# text = A cartoon bear holds a sign: «Bare crossing».
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	holds	hold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
8	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	crossing	crossing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | present | a cartoon bear | a sign |  |  |  |  | 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:* What is wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:11-homophones-and-near-homophones:t7:2
# text = What is wrong?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means uncovered; the animal is «bear»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:11-homophones-and-near-homophones:t7:o1:1
# text = It means uncovered; the animal is «bear»
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	uncovered	uncover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **uncover** *not said to happen* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | the animal | bear |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, bare is the animal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:11-homophones-and-near-homophones:t7:o2:1
# text = Nothing, bare is the animal
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	bare	bare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Nothing bare | the animal |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Bear» is only a verb, to carry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:11-homophones-and-near-homophones:t7:o3:1
# text = «Bear» is only a verb, to carry
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	verb	verb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Bear | a verb |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **carry** | to-infinitive | Bear *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It should say «bair»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:11-homophones-and-near-homophones:t7:o4:1
# text = It should say «bair»
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	bair	bair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | should | It | bair |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent bair=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.

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