---
title: An American tourist says "Wor-ces-ter-shire" letter by letter. A loc… — Silent letters and the mystery of -ough · tree and pragmatics
description: An American tourist says "Wor-ces-ter-shire" letter by letter. A local laughs. How do locals say it? Test 6 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 choic
---

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# Test 6 · Silent letters and the mystery of -ough

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An American tourist says "Wor-ces-ter-shire" letter by letter. A local laughs. How do locals say it?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** American tourist, letter, locals · **What happens:** say, letter · **To what, where:** letter · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* An American tourist says "Wor-ces-ter-shire" letter by letter.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t6:1
# text = An American tourist says "Wor-ces-ter-shire" letter by letter.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	tourist	tourist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Wor	Wor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	ces	ce	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	ter	ter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	shire	shire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
14	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a American tourist |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **letter** |  | letter |  |  |  |  |  | nom letter «communication transitive»: by=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:* A local laughs.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t6:2
# text = A local laughs.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	local	local	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	laughs	laugh	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* How do locals say it?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t6:3
# text = How do locals say it?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	locals	local	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | locals | letter |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
WUSS-ter-sher

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t6:o1:1
# text = WUSS-ter-sher
1	WUSS	wuss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	ter	ter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	sher	sher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
War-chester-shire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t6:o2:1
# text = War-chester-shire
1	War	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	chester	chester	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	shire	shire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
WOR-kes-ter-shire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t6:o3:1
# text = WOR-kes-ter-shire
1	WOR	WOR	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	kes	ke	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	ter	ter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	shire	shire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	list	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
WOR-sester-shire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t6:o4:1
# text = WOR-sester-shire
1	WOR	wor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	sester	sester	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	shire	shire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .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: [Silent letters and the mystery of -ough, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/t5/)
- next →: [Silent letters and the mystery of -ough, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Silent letters and the mystery of -ough](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/)