---
title: It is given that a noun terminates in the letter s, as in souris. De… — Pets and animals · tree and pragmatics
description: It is given that a noun terminates in the letter s, as in souris. Determine its plural form. Exam question 4 of lesson 15 «Pets and animals» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/15-pets-and-animals/e4/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [French](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/) / [Pets and animals](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/15-pets-and-animals/) / e4

# Exam question 4 · Pets and animals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is given that a noun terminates in the letter s, as in souris. Determine its plural form.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** noun, you · **What happens:** give, terminate, determine, form · **To what, where:** It, letter, plural form

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 15 «Pets and animals» of the French course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/15-pets-and-animals/#e4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* It is given that a noun terminates in the letter s, as in souris.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:15-pets-and-animals:e4:1
# text = It is given that a noun terminates in the letter s, as in souris.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	terminates	terminate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	s	's	PART	POS	Typo=Yes	10	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	souris	souris	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **terminate** | present | a noun | the letter |  |  |  |  | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Theme |

<!-- .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:* Determine its plural form.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:15-pets-and-animals:e4:2
# text = Determine its plural form.
1	Determine	determine	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	plural	plural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **determine** | imperative | you *not said here* | noun's plural form |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Topic |
| 2 | **form** |  | noun |  |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
des sourisses, with the doubling of s

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:15-pets-and-animals:e4:o1:1
# text = des sourisses, with the doubling of s
1	des	des	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sourisses	souriss	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	doubling	doubling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	s	s	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **double** |  |  | s |  |  |  |  | nom doubling «process transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
des sourix, with the addition of -x

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:15-pets-and-animals:e4:o2:1
# text = des sourix, with the addition of -x
1	des	des	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sourix	sourix	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	addition	addition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	x	x	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
des sourises, with the addition of -es

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:15-pets-and-animals:e4:o3:1
# text = des sourises, with the addition of -es
1	des	des	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sourises	souris	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	addition	addition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	es	e	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
des souris, the noun being unchanged

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:15-pets-and-animals:e4:o4:1
# text = des souris, the noun being unchanged
1	des	des	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	2	det	_	_
2	souris	souris	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
7	unchanged	unchanged	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | gerund | the noun |  |  |  |  | unchanged *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Pets and animals, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/15-pets-and-animals/e3/)
- next →: [The body, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/16-the-body/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Pets and animals](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/15-pets-and-animals/)