---
title: A cartoon says the French word homme (man) like "hom" with a big bre… — Silent letters: why French doesn't say… · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon says the French word homme (man) like "hom" with a big breath. How should it really sound? Test 6 of lesson 1 «Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes» of the French course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opt
---

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# Test 6 · Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon says the French word homme (man) like "hom" with a big breath. How should it really sound?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cartoon, homme · **What happens:** say, sound · **To what, where:** French word homme · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 1 «Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes» of the French 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/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon says the French word homme (man) like "hom" with a big breath.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes:t6:1
# text = A cartoon says the French word homme (man) like "hom" with a big breath.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	homme	homme	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	9	punct	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	hom	hom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a cartoon | the French word homme |  |  |  | like hom with a big breath | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent homme=Topic |

<!-- .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:* How should it really sound?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes:t6:2
# text = How should it really sound?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	really	really	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	sound	sound	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sound** | should | homme |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"home", like an English house

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes:t6:o1:1
# text = "home", like an English house
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"om", with no h breathed out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes:t6:o2:1
# text = "om", with no h breathed out
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	om	om	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	det	_	_
7	h	H	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	breathed	breathe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	out	out	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **breathe out** | participle · passive |  | om |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"hum", like a bee

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes:t6:o3:1
# text = "hum", like a bee
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	hum	hum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	bee	bee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"HOM-may", with the e said

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes:t6:o4:1
# text = "HOM-may", with the e said
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	HOM	HOM	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	2	dep	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	e	e	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | HOM |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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.

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