---
title: If people had only one ear, what would become harder? — Thinking about noticing · tree and pragmatics
description: If people had only one ear, what would become harder? Test 2 · ★★★ of lesson 20 «Thinking about noticing» of the everyday 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 · ★★★ · Thinking about noticing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If people had only one ear, what would become harder?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** people, one ear · **What happens:** have, become · **To what, where:** one ear

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This is test 2 · ★★★ of lesson 20 «Thinking about noticing» of the everyday 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/everyday/20-noticing-like-a-cat/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:20-noticing-like-a-cat:t2:1
# text = If people had only one ear, what would become harder?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl:relcl	_	_
11	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | people | one ear |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ear=Patient |
| 2 | **become** | would | one ear |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hearing any high sounds, like birds singing in the trees

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:20-noticing-like-a-cat:t2:o1:1
# text = Hearing any high sounds, like birds singing in the trees
1	Hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
3	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sounds	sound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
8	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | gerund |  | any high sounds |  |  |  | like birds | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund | birds *not said here* |  |  | the trees |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in tree=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Speaking clearly to others

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:20-noticing-like-a-cat:t2:o2:1
# text = Speaking clearly to others
1	Speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	clearly	clearly	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | to others; clearly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to other=Co-Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hearing loud sounds at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:20-noticing-like-a-cat:t2:o3:1
# text = Hearing loud sounds at all
1	Hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	sounds	sound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | gerund |  | loud sounds |  | all |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Telling which direction a sound comes from

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:20-noticing-like-a-cat:t2:o4:1
# text = Telling which direction a sound comes from
1	Telling	tell	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	csubj	_	_
2	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	3	det	_	_
3	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
6	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund |  | which direction |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent direction=Recipient sound=Topic |
| 2 | **come** | present | Telling |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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: [Thinking about noticing, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/20-noticing-like-a-cat/t1/)
- next →: [Thinking about noticing, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/20-noticing-like-a-cat/t3/)
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