---
title: In a cartoon, the Grammar Gremlin says, «Fronted adverbials must be… — Fronted adverbials · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon, the Grammar Gremlin says, «Fronted adverbials must be ONE word, like Suddenly.» What is true? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 29 «Fronted adverbials» 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 7 · ★ · Fronted adverbials

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon, the Grammar Gremlin says, «Fronted adverbials must be ONE word, like Suddenly.» What is true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Grammar Gremlin, Fronted adverbials · **What happens:** say, front, be · **To what, where:** cartoon, ONE word · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 29 «Fronted adverbials» 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/29-fronted-adverbials/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon, the Grammar Gremlin says, «Fronted adverbials must be ONE word, like Suddenly.»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t7:1
# text = In a cartoon, the Grammar Gremlin says, «Fronted adverbials must be ONE word, like Suddenly.»
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Grammar	Grammar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	Gremlin	Gremlin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	Fronted	front	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	amod	_	_
12	adverbials	adverbial	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
13	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
15	ONE	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	like	like	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	Suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the Grammar Gremlin |  |  | a cartoon |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent in cartoon=Manner |
| 2 | **front** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | must | Fronted adverbials | ONE word |  |  |  | suddenly *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:* What is true?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t7:2
# text = What is true?
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	true	true	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 |  |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They can only tell you about time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t7:o1:1
# text = They can only tell you about time
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | can | They |  | you |  | time |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They must always end in -ly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t7:o2:1
# text = They must always end in -ly
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	end	end	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	ly	ly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end** | must | They |  |  | ly |  | always *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only one-word adverbials count

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t7:o3:1
# text = Only one-word adverbials count
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	adverbials	adverbial	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	count	count	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **count** | present | word adverbials |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They can be words, phrases or whole clauses

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t7:o4:1
# text = They can be words, phrases or whole clauses
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	phrases	phrase	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	clauses	clause	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | can | They | words and phrases or whole clauses |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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- ← previous: [Fronted adverbials, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/29-fronted-adverbials/t6/)
- next →: [Fronted adverbials, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/29-fronted-adverbials/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Fronted adverbials](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/29-fronted-adverbials/)