---
title: Your mate goes "tense is just for maths, innit, like tens and units.… — Tense consistency and verb forms · tree and pragmatics
description: Your mate goes "tense is just for maths, innit, like tens and units." What is true? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 31 «Tense consistency and verb forms» 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 1 · ★ · Tense consistency and verb forms

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your mate goes "tense is just for maths, innit, like tens and units." What is true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** mate, tense · **What happens:** go, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 31 «Tense consistency and verb forms» 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/31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your mate goes "tense is just for maths, innit, like tens and units."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t1:1
# text = Your mate goes "tense is just for maths, innit, like tens and units."
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	tense	tense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	just	just	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	maths	math	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	innit	innit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	like	like	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	tens	ten	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	units	unit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present | Your mate |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | tense |  |  |  |  | for maths and innit and tens and units | 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:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t1:2
# 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 -->
Tense is how worried the writer feels

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t1:o1:1
# text = Tense is how worried the writer feels
1	Tense	tense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
4	worried	worried	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	writer	writer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	feels	feel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Tense |  |  |  |  | worried *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **feel** | present | the writer |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tense means how loud you read a word

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t1:o2:1
# text = Tense means how loud you read a word
1	Tense	tense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
4	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	read	read	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Tense |  |  |  |  | loud *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **read** | present | you | a word |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Topic |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tense means the time a verb points to

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t1:o3:1
# text = Tense means the time a verb points to
1	Tense	tense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	verb	verb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	points	point	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Tense |  |  |  | time |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **point** | present | a verb | the time *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent time=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tense is the number of words in a sentence

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t1:o4:1
# text = Tense is the number of words in a sentence
1	Tense	tense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Tense | the number |  |  |  | of words in a sentence | 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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