--- title: Your mate says "'The complex houses married and single soldiers' is… — Grammar puzzles, part one · tree and pragmatics description: Your mate says "'The complex houses married and single soldiers' is nonsense." (Here a complex is a group of buildings.) What is the verb? Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 11 «Grammar puzzles, part one» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question an --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/t11/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/) / [Grammar puzzles, part one](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/) / t11 # Test 11 · ★★ · Grammar puzzles, part one Your mate says "'The complex houses married and single soldiers' is nonsense." (Here a complex is a group of buildings.) What is the verb? **Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** mate, single soldiers, complex, verb · **What happens:** say, marry, be · **To what, where:** complex houses, nonsense, group · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 11 «Grammar puzzles, part one» of the language 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/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/#t11). ## The question {#question} *Sentence 1:* Your mate says "'The complex houses married and single soldiers' is nonsense." ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t11:1 # text = Your mate says "'The complex houses married and single soldiers' is nonsense." 1 Your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 mate mate NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 says say VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 " " PUNCT `` _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 7 complex complex NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 compound _ _ 8 houses house NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nsubj:pass _ _ 9 married marry VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 ccomp _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 11 single single ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 soldiers soldier NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ' 's PART POS _ 12 case _ _ 14 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 15 nonsense nonsense NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 17 " " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Your mate | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **marry** *in a quote* | participle · passive | | the complex houses | | | | | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | single soldiers | nonsense | | | | | tree rules | 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. *Sentence 2:* (Here a complex is a group of buildings.) ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t11:2 # text = (Here a complex is a group of buildings.) 1 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Here here ADV RB PronType=Dem 0 root _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 complex complex NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 5 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 group group NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 parataxis _ _ 8 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 buildings building NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 10 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 2 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | present | a complex | a group | | | | of buildings | tree rules | *Sentence 3:* What is the verb? ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t11:3 # text = What is the verb? 1 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 0 root _ _ 2 is 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 verb verb NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 ? ? PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | present | the verb | | | | | | tree rules | ## The options {#options} ### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1} houses, meaning gives homes to ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t11:o1:1 # text = houses, meaning gives homes to 1 houses house NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 3 meaning mean VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 1 acl _ _ 4 gives give VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 homes home NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obj _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 4 xcomp _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **mean** | gerund | houses *not said here* | | | | | | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **give** | present | houses | homes | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent home=Theme | ### Option 2 {#o2} complex ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t11:o2:1 # text = complex 1 complex complex NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. ### Option 3 {#o3} soldiers ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t11:o3:1 # text = soldiers 1 soldiers soldier NOUN NNS Number=Plur 0 root _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. ### Option 4 {#o4} married ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t11:o4:1 # text = married 1 married marry VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **marry** | participle | | | | | | | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | **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. - ← previous: [Grammar puzzles, part one, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/t10/) - next →: [Grammar puzzles, part one, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/e1/) - ↑ back to [Grammar puzzles, part one](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/)