---
title: Harvey laughs, "Sounds like Caesar's." Why is it des ciseaux, not un… — In the classroom · tree and pragmatics
description: Harvey laughs, "Sounds like Caesar's." Why is it des ciseaux, not un ciseau? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 20 «In the classroom» 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 10 · ★ · In the classroom

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Harvey laughs, "Sounds like Caesar's." Why is it des ciseaux, not un ciseau?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Harvey, it · **What happens:** laugh, sound, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 20 «In the classroom» 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/20-in-the-classroom/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Harvey laughs, "Sounds like Caesar's."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:20-in-the-classroom:t10:1
# text = Harvey laughs, "Sounds like Caesar's."
1	Harvey	Harvey	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	laughs	laugh	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Sounds	sound	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Caesar	Caesar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **laugh** | present | Harvey |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **sound** *in a quote* | present | Harvey *not said here* |  |  |  |  | like Caesar | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 is it des ciseaux, not un ciseau?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:20-in-the-classroom:t10:2
# text = Why is it des ciseaux, not un ciseau?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	des	de	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	ciseaux	ciseaux	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	un	un	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	9	compound	_	_
9	ciseau	ciseau	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
ciseaux is the word for knives

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:20-in-the-classroom:t10:o1:1
# text = ciseaux is the word for knives
1	ciseaux	ciseaux	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	knives	knife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Scissors are plural in French too

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:20-in-the-classroom:t10:o2:1
# text = Scissors are plural in French too
1	Scissors	scissors	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	plural	plural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	French	French	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Scissors |  |  | French |  | plural *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The teacher had two pairs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:20-in-the-classroom:t10:o3:1
# text = The teacher had two pairs
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	pairs	pair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the teacher | two pairs |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pair=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Caesar owned the scissors

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:20-in-the-classroom:t10:o4:1
# text = Caesar owned the scissors
1	Caesar	Caesar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	owned	own	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	scissors	scissors	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **own** | past | Caesar | the scissors |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot scissors=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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