---
title: Freya's penpal asks if her stepmum is really beautiful. Why? — My family · tree and pragmatics
description: Freya's penpal asks if her stepmum is really beautiful. Why? Test 9 of lesson 14 «My family» of the French 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 9 · My family

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Freya's penpal asks if her stepmum is really beautiful. Why?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** penpal, stepmum · **What happens:** ask, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 14 «My family» 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/14-my-family/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Freya's penpal asks if her stepmum is really beautiful.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:14-my-family:t9:1
# text = Freya's penpal asks if her stepmum is really beautiful.
1	Freya	Freya	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	penpal	penpal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	stepmum	stepmum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	really	really	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | Freya's penpal |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | penpal's stepmum |  |  |  |  | beautiful *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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:* Why?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:14-my-family:t9:2
# text = Why?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
belle-mère means "mum who rings bells"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:14-my-family:t9:o1:1
# text = belle-mère means "mum who rings bells"
1	belle	belle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	mère	mère	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
4	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	rings	ring	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	bells	bell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | belle and mère | mum |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mum=Topic |
| 2 | **ring** *in a quote* | present | mum | bells |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bell=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
belle-mère contains belle, which means beautiful

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:14-my-family:t9:o2:1
# text = belle-mère contains belle, which means beautiful
1	belle	belle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	mère	mère	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
4	contains	contain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	belle	belle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contain** | present | belle and mère | belle |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot belle=Theme |
| 2 | **mean** | present | belle |  |  |  |  | beautiful *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Freya wrote "une jolie mère"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:14-my-family:t9:o3:1
# text = Freya wrote "une jolie mère"
1	Freya	Freya	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	une	une	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	6	dep	_	_
5	jolie	jolie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	mère	mère	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past | Freya | jolie mère |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mère=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The penpal knows her stepmum

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:14-my-family:t9:o4:1
# text = The penpal knows her stepmum
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	penpal	penpal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	stepmum	stepmum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | the penpal | penpal's stepmum |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer stepmum=Stimulus |

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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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