---
title: What would happen if we stopped using apostrophes for belonging? — The apostrophe war · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if we stopped using apostrophes for belonging? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 15 «The apostrophe war» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · The apostrophe war

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if we stopped using apostrophes for belonging?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** we · **What happens:** happen, stop, use, belong · **To what, where:** apostrophes

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 15 «The apostrophe war» 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/15-the-apostrophe-war/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t3:1
# text = What would happen if we stopped using apostrophes for belonging?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	using	use	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	xcomp	_	_
8	apostrophes	apostrophe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	belonging	belong	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **stop** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **use** | gerund | we *not said here* | apostrophes |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent apostrophe=Patient |
| 4 | **belong** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Every plural would need one

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t3:o1:1
# text = Every plural would need one
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	plural	plural	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	need	need	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | would | every plural | one |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot one=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Names would lose their capitals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t3:o2:1
# text = Names would lose their capitals
1	Names	name	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	capitals	capital	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | would | Names | Names's capitals |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent capital=Eventuality |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"The dog's bowl" and "the dogs' bowl" would look the same

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t3:o3:1
# text = "The dog's bowl" and "the dogs' bowl" would look the same
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	bowl	bowl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	'	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	bowl	bowl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | would | the dog's bowl and the dogs's bowl | the same |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme same=Attribute |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing at all would change

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t3:o4:1
# text = Nothing at all would change
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	nmod	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | would | Nothing |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ← previous: [The apostrophe war, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/t2/)
- next →: [The apostrophe war, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/t4/)
- ↑ back to [The apostrophe war](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/)