---
title: Why do most Irish people speak English rather than Irish at home? — Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Irelan… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do most Irish people speak English rather than Irish at home? Test 2 of lesson 10 «Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the rest of the English-speaking world» of the geography course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mov
---

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# Test 2 · Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the rest of th…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do most Irish people speak English rather than Irish at home?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** most Irish people · **What happens:** do, speak · **To what, where:** English · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 of lesson 10 «Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the rest of the English-speaking world» of the geography 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/geography/10-canada-australia-new-zealand-ireland-and-the-english-speaking-world/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:10-canada-australia-new-zealand-ireland-and-the-english-speaking-world:t2:1
# text = Why do most Irish people speak English rather than Irish at home?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
3	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
4	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	speak	speak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	10	cc	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	fixed	_	_
10	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present | most Irish people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | most Irish people | English |  |  |  |  | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Irish was banned by the EU when Ireland joined in 1973

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:10-canada-australia-new-zealand-ireland-and-the-english-speaking-world:t2:o1:1
# text = Irish was banned by the EU when Ireland joined in 1973
1	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	banned	ban	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	EU	EU	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
8	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	joined	join	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	1973	1973	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ban** | past · passive | the EU | Irish |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme |
| 2 | **join** | past | Ireland |  |  |  |  | in 1973 | vn cooperate-73.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in 1973=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Centuries of English rule, schooling and the famine pushed Irish back

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:10-canada-australia-new-zealand-ireland-and-the-english-speaking-world:t2:o2:1
# text = Centuries of English rule, schooling and the famine pushed Irish back
1	Centuries	century	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	schooling	schooling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	famine	famine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
10	pushed	push	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	xcomp	_	_
12	back	back	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push back** | past | Centuries of English rule and schooling and the famine |  |  |  |  | irish *property* | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
English is the first official language

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:10-canada-australia-new-zealand-ireland-and-the-english-speaking-world:t2:o3:1
# text = English is the first official language
1	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	amod	_	_
5	official	official	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Irish was never spoken in Ireland

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:10-canada-australia-new-zealand-ireland-and-the-english-speaking-world:t2:o4:1
# text = Irish was never spoken in Ireland
1	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | Irish |  | Ireland |  |  | 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 -->

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- ← previous: [Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Irelan…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/10-canada-australia-new-zealand-ireland-and-the-english-speaking-world/t1/)
- next →: [Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Irelan…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/10-canada-australia-new-zealand-ireland-and-the-english-speaking-world/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the rest of the English-speaking world](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/10-canada-australia-new-zealand-ireland-and-the-english-speaking-world/)