---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises gram… — Le, la, un, une: every word is a boy o… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises grammatical gender in French? Exam question 1 of lesson 25 «Le, la, un, une: every word is a boy or a girl» of the French course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova'
---

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# Exam question 1 · Le, la, un, une: every word is a boy or a girl

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises grammatical gender in French?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** grammatical gender, French

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 25 «Le, la, un, une: every word is a boy or a girl» 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/25-le-la-un-une-every-word-is-a-boy-or-a-girl/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:25-le-la-un-une-every-word-is-a-boy-or-a-girl:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises grammatical gender in French?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	gender	gender	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	French	French	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | grammatical gender |  | French |  | of the following statements; accurately *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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A property governed by the size of the referent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:25-le-la-un-une-every-word-is-a-boy-or-a-girl:e1:o1:1
# text = A property governed by the size of the referent
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	governed	govern	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	referent	referent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **govern** | participle |  | a property *not said here* |  |  |  | by the size of the referent | vn supervision-95.2.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A property determined by the sex of the referent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:25-le-la-un-une-every-word-is-a-boy-or-a-girl:e1:o2:1
# text = A property determined by the sex of the referent
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	determined	determine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sex	sex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	referent	referent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **determine** | participle |  | a property *not said here* |  |  |  | by the sex of the referent | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **sex** |  |  | the referent |  |  |  |  | nom sex «act transitive»: of=patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A property of each noun, independent of the sex of its referent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:25-le-la-un-une-every-word-is-a-boy-or-a-girl:e1:o3:1
# text = A property of each noun, independent of the sex of its referent
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	independent	independent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sex	sex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	referent	referent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A property applied exclusively to persons and animals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:25-le-la-un-une-every-word-is-a-boy-or-a-girl:e1:o4:1
# text = A property applied exclusively to persons and animals
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	applied	apply	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **apply** | participle |  | a property *not said here* |  |  |  | to persons and animals; exclusively *property* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: 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.

<!-- /div -->

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