---
title: Olivia asks, "Why does bread need 'the'?" What's the rule? — Food and drink · tree and pragmatics
description: Olivia asks, "Why does bread need 'the'?" What's the rule? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 18 «Food and drink» 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 1 · ★ · Food and drink

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Olivia asks, "Why does bread need 'the'?" What's the rule?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Olivia, rule · **What happens:** ask, need, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 18 «Food and drink» 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/18-food-and-drink/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Olivia asks, "Why does bread need 'the'?"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:18-food-and-drink:t1:1
# text = Olivia asks, "Why does bread need 'the'?"
1	Olivia	Olivia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
6	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	need	need	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
9	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | Olivia |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **need** *in a quote* | present · do-support |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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's the rule?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:18-food-and-drink:t1:2
# text = What's the rule?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the rule |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
After j'aime, never use any little word

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:18-food-and-drink:t1:o1:1
# text = After j'aime, never use any little word
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	j'aime	j'aime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **use** | present |  | any little word |  |  | after j'aime |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
French always says "the" twice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:18-food-and-drink:t1:o2:1
# text = French always says "the" twice
1	French	French	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
7	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | French | the |  |  |  | always, twice *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent the=Topic |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
After j'aime, use le, la, l' or les for the food

<!-- fold The tree, 11 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:18-food-and-drink:t1:o3:1
# text = After j'aime, use le, la, l' or les for the food
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	j'aime	j'aime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	use	use	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	le	le	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	la	la	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	l	l	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	les	le	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | imperative | you *not said here* | le and la and l or les |  |  | after j'aime | for the food | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent le=Theme for food=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bread is a special word that needs le

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:18-food-and-drink:t1:o4:1
# text = Bread is a special word that needs le
1	Bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	special	special	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	le	le	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Bread | a special word |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **need** | present | a special word | le |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot le=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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