---
title: A cartoon says tricky words must be learned «all at once, as a whole… — Tricky words and common exception words · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon says tricky words must be learned «all at once, as a whole picture». What works better? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 3 «Tricky words and common exception words» 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
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Tricky words and common exception words

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon says tricky words must be learned «all at once, as a whole picture». What works better?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cartoon · **What happens:** say, learn, work · **To what, where:** tricky words · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 3 «Tricky words and common exception words» 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/3-tricky-words-and-common-exception-words/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon says tricky words must be learned «all at once, as a whole picture».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:3-tricky-words-and-common-exception-words:t8:1
# text = A cartoon says tricky words must be learned «all at once, as a whole picture».
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	tricky	tricky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	learned	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
9	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	all	all	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	as	as	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a cartoon |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **learn** | must · passive |  | tricky words |  |  |  | once *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 works better?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:3-tricky-words-and-common-exception-words:t8:2
# text = What works better?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | present |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Copy the whole word out a hundred times

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:3-tricky-words-and-common-exception-words:t8:o1:1
# text = Copy the whole word out a hundred times
1	Copy	copy	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	out	out	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **copy out** | imperative | you *not said here* | the whole word |  |  | time |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Learn the word by its colour on the page

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:3-tricky-words-and-common-exception-words:t8:o2:1
# text = Learn the word by its colour on the page
1	Learn	learn	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	page	page	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | imperative | you *not said here* | the word |  | the page |  | by word's colour | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only read tricky words, never write them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:3-tricky-words-and-common-exception-words:t8:o3:1
# text = Only read tricky words, never write them
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	read	read	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	tricky	tricky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	write	write	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | imperative | you *not said here* | tricky words |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **write** | infinitive | you *not said here* | words *= word* |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Find the odd bit and learn that part

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:3-tricky-words-and-common-exception-words:t8:o4:1
# text = Find the odd bit and learn that part
1	Find	find	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	learn	learn	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
7	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | imperative | you *not said here* | the odd bit |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bit=Topic |
| 2 | **learn** | infinitive | you *not said here* | that part |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent part=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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