---
title: What would happen if we wrote «box» plural as «boxs»? — Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if we wrote «box» plural as «boxs»? Test 5 · ★ 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves and odd ones

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if we wrote «box» plural as «boxs»?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** we · **What happens:** happen, write · **To what, where:** box

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ 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/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:6-spelling-plurals:t5:1
# text = What would happen if we wrote «box» plural as «boxs»?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
10	plural	plural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
11	as	as	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	boxs	box	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **write** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | we | box |  |  |  | plural *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent box=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Nothing, «boxs» is just as correct

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:6-spelling-plurals:t5:o1:1
# text = Nothing, «boxs» is just as correct
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	boxs	box	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	9	cop	_	_
7	just	just	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	as	as	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	correct	correct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The word would mean one box

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:6-spelling-plurals:t5:o2:1
# text = The word would mean one box
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | would | the word | one box |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent box=Topic |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The spelling would not show the extra beat we hear

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:6-spelling-plurals:t5:o3:1
# text = The spelling would not show the extra beat we hear
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	extra	extra	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	beat	beat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	hear	hear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **show** | would | the spelling | the extra beat |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent beat=Recipient |
| 2 | **hear** | present | we | the extra beat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer beat=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be the American spelling

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:6-spelling-plurals:t5:o4:1
# text = It would be the American spelling
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | would | It | the American spelling |  |  |  |  | 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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- next →: [Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/6-spelling-plurals/t6/)
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