---
title: A lad from Wigan says "Our kid were late again, the muppet." ("Our k… — Tense consistency and verb forms · tree and pragmatics
description: A lad from Wigan says "Our kid were late again, the muppet." ("Our kid" means my brother or sister.) Which is the standard? Test 7 · ★ 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 o
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Tense consistency and verb forms

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A lad from Wigan says "Our kid were late again, the muppet." ("Our kid" means my brother or sister.) Which is the standard?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** lad, kid · **What happens:** say, be, mean · **To what, where:** kid, brother, standard · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A lad from Wigan says "Our kid were late again, the muppet."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t7:1
# text = A lad from Wigan says "Our kid were late again, the muppet."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Wigan	Wigan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	kid	kid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	11	advmod	_	_
11	again	again	ADV	RB	_	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	muppet	muppet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a lad from Wigan | Our kid and the muppet |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent kid=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | past | a lad from Wigan *not said here* |  |  |  |  | again, late *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:* ("Our kid" means my brother or sister.)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t7:2
# text = ("Our kid" means my brother or sister.)
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	kid	kid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
6	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Our kid | my brother or sister |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brother=Topic |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* Which is the standard?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t7:3
# text = Which is the standard?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	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	standard	standard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My brother be late again.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t7:o1:1
# text = My brother be late again.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	again	again	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | infinitive | My brother |  |  |  | again | late *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My brother is late again yesterday.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t7:o2:1
# text = My brother is late again yesterday.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	again	again	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	yesterday	yesterday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My brother were late again.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t7:o3:1
# text = My brother were late again.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
5	again	again	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | My brother |  |  |  | again | late *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My brother was late again.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms:t7:o4:1
# text = My brother was late again.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	again	again	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | My brother |  |  |  | again | late *property* | 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.

<!-- /div -->

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