---
title: Your cousin reads "though, through, tough" out loud as "thuff, thruf… — Silent letters and the mystery of -ough · tree and pragmatics
description: Your cousin reads "though, through, tough" out loud as "thuff, thruff, tuff". Which is right? Test 3 of lesson 13 «Silent letters and the mystery of -ough» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was w
---

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# Test 3 · Silent letters and the mystery of -ough

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your cousin reads "though, through, tough" out loud as "thuff, thruff, tuff". Which is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cousin · **What happens:** read, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 of lesson 13 «Silent letters and the mystery of -ough» 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/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your cousin reads "though, through, tough" out loud as "thuff, thruff, tuff".

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t3:1
# text = Your cousin reads "though, through, tough" out loud as "thuff, thruff, tuff".
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	cousin	cousin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	reads	read	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	though	though	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	through	through	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	tough	tough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	_
11	out	out	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	loud	loud	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
13	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	thuff	thuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	thruff	thruff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	tuff	tuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | present | Your cousin |  |  |  |  | though *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:* Which is right?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t3:2
# text = Which is right?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only "thruff"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t3:o1:1
# text = Only "thruff"
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	thruff	thruff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
None of them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t3:o2:1
# text = None of them
1	None	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only "tuff" is right

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t3:o3:1
# text = Only "tuff" is right
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	tuff	tuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All three are right

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t3:o4:1
# text = All three are right
1	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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: [Silent letters and the mystery of -ough, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/t2/)
- next →: [Silent letters and the mystery of -ough, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/t4/)
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