---
title: In a cartoon, a teacher writes «humourous» on the board. What should… — Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness… · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon, a teacher writes «humourous» on the board. What should it be? Test 7 · ★★★ 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 7 · ★★★ · Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness, -ment

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon, a teacher writes «humourous» on the board. What should it be?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** teacher · **What happens:** write, be · **To what, where:** cartoon

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★★★ 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon, a teacher writes «humourous» on the board.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment:t7:1
# text = In a cartoon, a teacher writes «humourous» on the board.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	writes	write	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	humourous	humourous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	board	board	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | present | a teacher |  |  | a cartoon |  | on the board; humourous *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in cartoon=Destination |

<!-- .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 should it be?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment:t7:2
# text = What should it be?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | should | teacher |  |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
humorous: the u of humour drops

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment:t7:o1:1
# text = humorous: the u of humour drops
1	humorous	humorous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	u	u	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	humour	humour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	drops	drop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
humourous: keep the root exactly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment:t7:o2:1
# text = humourous: keep the root exactly
1	humourous	humourous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	root	root	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | imperative | you *not said here* | the root |  |  |  | exactly *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent root=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
humerous: like «humerus» the bone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment:t7:o3:1
# text = humerous: like «humerus» the bone
1	humerous	humerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
3	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	humerus	humerus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bone	bone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
humorus: drop the o too

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment:t7:o4:1
# text = humorus: drop the o too
1	humorus	humorus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
3	drop	drop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	o	o	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drop** | infinitive | humorus | the o |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent o=Theme |

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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: [Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment/t6/)
- next →: [Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness, -ment](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment/)