---
title: In a cartoon, a knight says "Ka-nig-ht" with every letter. Which is… — Silent letters and the mystery of -ough · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon, a knight says "Ka-nig-ht" with every letter. Which is true? Test 8 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 right.
---

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# Test 8 · Silent letters and the mystery of -ough

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon, a knight says "Ka-nig-ht" with every letter. Which is true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** knight, Ka · **What happens:** say, ht, be · **To what, where:** cartoon · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon, a knight says "Ka-nig-ht" with every letter.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t8:1
# text = In a cartoon, a knight says "Ka-nig-ht" with every letter.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Ka	Ka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	nig	nig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	ht	ht	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	17	det	_	_
17	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a knight |  |  | a cartoon |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent in cartoon=Manner |
| 2 | **ht** *in a quote* |  | Ka |  |  |  |  | with every letter | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Which is true?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t8:2
# text = Which is true?
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	true	true	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 |  |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was always said "nite"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t8:o1:1
# text = It was always said "nite"
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	nite	nite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | It |  |  |  | always *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It's said that way in America today

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t8:o2:1
# text = It's said that way in America today
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	America	America	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | It |  |  | today |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody has ever said the k in knight, not even a thousand years ago

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t8:o3:1
# text = Nobody has ever said the k in knight, not even a thousand years ago
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	4	advmod	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	k	k	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
11	even	even	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
15	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · perfect | Nobody | the k |  |  | ever; year | in knight | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent k=Theme in knight=Manner |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Long ago people did say the k and the gh, though not exactly like that

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t8:o4:1
# text = Long ago people did say the k and the gh, though not exactly like that
1	Long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
2	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	k	k	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	gh	gh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
15	like	like	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · do-support | people | the k and the gh |  |  |  | like that; ago *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent k=Topic |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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