---
title: A lad in Cork says "Whose round is it, yer man's?" ("Yer man" means… — Apostrophes: missing letters and belon… · tree and pragmatics
description: A lad in Cork says "Whose round is it, yer man's?" ("Yer man" means that fella there.) Why "whose", not "who's"? Test 4 of lesson 34 «Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option
---

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# Test 4 · Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A lad in Cork says "Whose round is it, yer man's?" ("Yer man" means that fella there.) Why "whose", not "who's"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** lad, round, man · **What happens:** say, be, mean · **To what, where:** fella · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 of lesson 34 «Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging» 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/34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A lad in Cork says "Whose round is it, yer man's?"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:t4:1
# text = A lad in Cork says "Whose round is it, yer man's?"
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Cork	Cork	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	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	round	round	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	yer	yer	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | present | a lad in Cork |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | yer's man's round |  |  |  |  | 's yer's man | 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:* ("Yer man" means that fella there.)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:t4:2
# text = ("Yer man" means that fella there.)
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Yer	yer	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	man	man	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	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	fella	fella	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Yer's man | that fella |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fella=Topic |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* Why "whose", not "who's"?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:t4:3
# text = Why "whose", not "who's"?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	1	advcl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	3	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	"	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are the same word, just spelled two ways

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:t4:o1:1
# text = They are the same word, just spelled two ways
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	just	just	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	spelled	spell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
9	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | They | the same word |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **spell** | participle | the same word *not said here* | two ways |  |  |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Who's is only used in questions

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:t4:o2:1
# text = Who's is only used in questions
1	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present · passive |  |  |  | questions |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It asks about belonging, not "who is"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:t4:o3:1
# text = It asks about belonging, not "who is"
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	belonging	belong	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	obj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **belong** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whose is the short form of who is

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:t4:o4:1
# text = Whose is the short form of who is
1	Whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	5	nmod:poss	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nmod	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the short form |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | 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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- ↑ back to [Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging/)