---
title: Sam's talk lasts 2 minutes, but he says "um" 30 times. Which change… — Spoken language: presenting and show-a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Sam's talk lasts 2 minutes, but he says "um" 30 times. Which change helps the audience most? Test 11 of lesson 48 «Spoken language: presenting and show-and-tell» 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 11 · Spoken language: presenting and show-and-tell

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sam's talk lasts 2 minutes, but he says "um" 30 times. Which change helps the audience most?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** talk, Sam, change · **What happens:** last, say, talk, help · **To what, where:** um, audience · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 11 of lesson 48 «Spoken language: presenting and show-and-tell» 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/48-spoken-language-presenting-and-show-and-tell/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Sam's talk lasts 2 minutes, but he says "um" 30 times.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:48-spoken-language-presenting-and-show-and-tell:t11:1
# text = Sam's talk lasts 2 minutes, but he says "um" 30 times.
1	Sam	Sam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	talk	talk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	lasts	last	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	2	2	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	um	um	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
14	30	30	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **last** | present | Sam's talk |  |  |  | minute |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | talk | um |  |  | time |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent um=Topic |
| 3 | **talk** |  | Sam |  |  |  |  |  | nom talk «communication intransitive»: poss=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Which change helps the audience most?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:48-spoken-language-presenting-and-show-and-tell:t11:2
# text = Which change helps the audience most?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	helps	help	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	audience	audience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | present | which change | the audience |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Using longer, posher words

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:48-spoken-language-presenting-and-show-and-tell:t11:o1:1
# text = Using longer, posher words
1	Using	use	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	0	root	_	_
2	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	posher	posh	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | gerund |  | posher words |  |  |  | long *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Adding slides packed with text

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:48-spoken-language-presenting-and-show-and-tell:t11:o2:1
# text = Adding slides packed with text
1	Adding	add	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	amod	_	_
2	slides	slide	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	packed	pack	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **pack** | participle |  | Adding slides *not said here* |  |  |  | with text | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent with text=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pausing instead of saying "um"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:48-spoken-language-presenting-and-show-and-tell:t11:o3:1
# text = Pausing instead of saying "um"
1	Pausing	pause	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	4	mark	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	2	fixed	_	_
4	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	um	um	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pause** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn linger-53.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund |  | um |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent um=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Talking faster to fit in more

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:48-spoken-language-presenting-and-show-and-tell:t11:o4:1
# text = Talking faster to fit in more
1	Talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	nsubj	_	_
2	faster	fast	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	fit	fit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **fit** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | more |  |  | vn funnel-9.3-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent in more=Trajectory |

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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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- ← previous: [Spoken language: presenting and show-a…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/48-spoken-language-presenting-and-show-and-tell/t10/)
- next →: [Spoken language: presenting and show-a…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/48-spoken-language-presenting-and-show-and-tell/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Spoken language: presenting and show-and-tell](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/48-spoken-language-presenting-and-show-and-tell/)