---
title: Ascertain the position of the elements ne and pas in relation to the… — Questions and simple sentences · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the position of the elements ne and pas in relation to the verb in a negative statement. Exam question 4 of lesson 30 «Questions and simple sentences» 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 wa
---

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# Exam question 4 · Questions and simple sentences

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the position of the elements ne and pas in relation to the verb in a negative statement.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain · **To what, where:** position, relation

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 30 «Questions and simple sentences» 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/30-questions-and-simple-sentences/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:30-questions-and-simple-sentences:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the position of the elements ne and pas in relation to the verb in a negative statement.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	position	position	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	elements	element	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	compound	_	_
7	ne	ne	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	pas	pa	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	relation	relation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	verb	verb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	negative	negative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	statement	statement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the position of the elements ne and pas |  | relation |  | to the verb in a negative statement | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent position=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
both after the verb

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:30-questions-and-simple-sentences:e4:o1:1
# text = both after the verb
1	both	both	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
2	after	after	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	verb	verb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
both before the verb

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:30-questions-and-simple-sentences:e4:o2:1
# text = both before the verb
1	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc:preconj	_	_
2	before	before	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	verb	verb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
ne before the verb, pas after it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:30-questions-and-simple-sentences:e4:o3:1
# text = ne before the verb, pas after it
1	ne	ne	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	before	before	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	verb	verb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	pas	pas	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	conj	_	_
7	after	after	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
pas before the verb, ne after it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:30-questions-and-simple-sentences:e4:o4:1
# text = pas before the verb, ne after it
1	pas	pa	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	before	before	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	verb	verb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	ne	ne	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	after	after	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	_
```

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

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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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- ← previous: [Questions and simple sentences, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/30-questions-and-simple-sentences/e3/)
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