---
title: «baby changes to babies so day must change to dayies». What is the s… — Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves… · tree and pragmatics
description: «baby changes to babies so day must change to dayies». What is the slip? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 6 «Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves and odd ones» 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 right.
---

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# Test 2 · ★ · Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves and odd ones

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«baby changes to babies so day must change to dayies». What is the slip?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** baby, day, slip · **What happens:** change, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 6 «Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves and odd ones» 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/6-spelling-plurals/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «baby changes to babies so day must change to dayies».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:6-spelling-plurals:t2:1
# text = «baby changes to babies so day must change to dayies».
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	changes	change	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
6	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	dayies	dayy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** *in a quote* | present | baby |  |  |  |  | to babies *result* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Agent to baby=Result |
| 2 | **change** *in a quote* | must | day |  |  |  |  | to dayies *result* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Agent to dayy=Result |

<!-- .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 the slip?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:6-spelling-plurals:t2:2
# text = What is the slip?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	slip	slip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, «dayies» is right

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:6-spelling-plurals:t2:o1:1
# text = Nothing, «dayies» is right
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	dayies	dayy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Nothing |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It should be «daies», not «dayies»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:6-spelling-plurals:t2:o2:1
# text = It should be «daies», not «dayies»
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	daies	daie	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
9	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	dayies	dayy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | should | It | daies and dayies |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Day» has a vowel before y, so it just adds -s: days

<!-- fold The tree, 12 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:6-spelling-plurals:t2:o3:1
# text = «Day» has a vowel before y, so it just adds -s: days
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Day	Day	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
4	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	vowel	vowel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	before	before	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	y	y	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	just	just	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	adds	add	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
14	-s	-	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
16	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Day | a vowel |  |  | before y |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vowel=Patient |
| 2 | **add** *speech: assert* | present | vowel | -s |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent -=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Day» has no plural at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:6-spelling-plurals:t2:o4:1
# text = «Day» has no plural at all
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Day	Day	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
4	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	plural	plural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obj	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Day | no plural |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plural=Patient |

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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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