---
title: Identify the sentence composed in Standard English. — Standard English and dialect: "we was"… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the sentence composed in Standard English. Exam question 1 of lesson 38 «Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were" in writing» 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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# Exam question 1 · Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were"…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the sentence composed in Standard English.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, compose · **To what, where:** sentence, Standard English

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 38 «Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were" in writing» of the English course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were:e1:1
# text = Identify the sentence composed in Standard English.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	composed	compose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	Standard	Standard	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the sentence |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent sentence=Theme |
| 2 | **compose** | participle |  | the sentence *not said here* |  | Standard English |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Us was late for school.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were:e1:o1:1
# text = Us was late for school.
1	Us	Us	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Us |  |  |  |  | for school; late *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We were late for school.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were:e1:o2:1
# text = We were late for school.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | We |  |  |  |  | for school; late *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We been late for school.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were:e1:o3:1
# text = We been late for school.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	cop	_	_
3	late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | participle | We |  |  |  |  | for school; late *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We was late for school.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were:e1:o4:1
# text = We was late for school.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | We |  |  |  |  | for school; late *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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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- ← previous: [Standard English and dialect: "we was"…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/t11/)
- next →: [Standard English and dialect: "we was"…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were" in writing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/)