---
title: A cartoon kid looks up «fone» in the dictionary and gives up. What s… — How to learn spellings that stick · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon kid looks up «fone» in the dictionary and gives up. What should he try? Test 8 of lesson 15 «How to learn spellings that stick» 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 8 · How to learn spellings that stick

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon kid looks up «fone» in the dictionary and gives up. What should he try?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cartoon kid, kid · **What happens:** look up, give up, try · **To what, where:** fone

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 15 «How to learn spellings that stick» 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/15-how-to-learn-spellings-that-stick/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon kid looks up «fone» in the dictionary and gives up.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:15-how-to-learn-spellings-that-stick:t8:1
# text = A cartoon kid looks up «fone» in the dictionary and gives up.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	kid	kid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	looks	look	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	fone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	dictionary	dictionary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	gives	give	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
14	up	up	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look up** | present | a cartoon kid | fone |  |  |  | in the dictionary | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in dictionary=Theme |
| 2 | **give up** | present | a cartoon kid *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V»: agent=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 he try?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:15-how-to-learn-spellings-that-stick:t8:2
# text = What should he try?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | should | kid |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Give up; it isn't in any dictionary

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:15-how-to-learn-spellings-that-stick:t8:o1:1
# text = Give up; it isn't in any dictionary
1	Give	give	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	up	up	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
9	dictionary	dictionary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give up** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present | it |  |  | any dictionary |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ask the dictionary to find it for him, because books can hear you

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:15-how-to-learn-spellings-that-stick:t8:o2:1
# text = Ask the dictionary to find it for him, because books can hear you
1	Ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	dictionary	dictionary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	ccomp	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
12	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | imperative | you *not said here* | the dictionary |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent dictionary=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **find** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | dictionary |  |  |  | for him *= he* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent it=Theme for he=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **hear** | can | books | you |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer you=Stimulus |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Another likely start: ph, as in «phone»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:15-how-to-learn-spellings-that-stick:t8:o3:1
# text = Another likely start: ph, as in «phone»
1	Another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
2	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	start	start	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
5	ph	ph	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	phone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Look under the letter o

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:15-how-to-learn-spellings-that-stick:t8:o4:1
# text = Look under the letter o
1	Look	look	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	under	under	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	o	o	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | under the letter | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent under letter=Theme |

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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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