---
title: What would happen if -ous ended in e, like «house»? — Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if -ous ended in e, like «house»? Test 4 · ★★★ of lesson 9 «Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness, -ment» 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 4 · ★★★ · Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness, -ment

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if -ous ended in e, like «house»?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** ous · **What happens:** happen, end · **To what, where:** e

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★★★ of lesson 9 «Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness, -ment» 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/9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment:t4:1
# text = What would happen if -ous ended in e, like «house»?
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	_	7	mark	_	_
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	ous	ous	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	ended	end	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	e	e	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	13	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 | **end** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | ous |  |  | e |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Famous» would be spelled «famouse», which it isn't

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment:t4:o1:1
# text = «Famous» would be spelled «famouse», which it isn't
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Famous	famous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	spelled	spell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	famouse	famouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spell** | would · passive |  | Famous |  |  |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **be** | present | famouse |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«House» would lose its e

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment:t4:o2:1
# text = «House» would lose its e
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	House	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	e	e	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | would | House | House's e |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent e=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All -ous words would rhyme with «house»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment:t4:o3:1
# text = All -ous words would rhyme with «house»
1	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	det	_	_
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	ous	ous	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	rhyme	rhyme	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rhyme** | would | ous words |  |  |  |  | with house | vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Patient with house=Co-Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing would change in any word

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment:t4:o4:1
# text = Nothing would change in any word
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | would | Nothing |  |  | any word |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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