---
title: A Newcastle fan writes "St James's Park". A Geordie mate says "nah,… — The apostrophe war · tree and pragmatics
description: A Newcastle fan writes "St James's Park". A Geordie mate says "nah, man, it's St James' Park, like on the sign." Who's right for that ground? Test 5 · ★ 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 e
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · The apostrophe war

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A Newcastle fan writes "St James's Park". A Geordie mate says "nah, man, it's St James' Park, like on the sign." Who's right for that ground?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Newcastle fan, Geordie mate, mate · **What happens:** write, say, be · **To what, where:** Park · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ 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/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A Newcastle fan writes "St James's Park".

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t5:1
# text = A Newcastle fan writes "St James's Park".
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	Newcastle	Newcastle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	fan	fan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	writes	write	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	St	St	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	James	James	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	Park	Park	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | present | a Newcastle fan |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

<!-- .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 Geordie mate says "nah, man, it's St James' Park, like on the sign."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t5:2
# text = A Geordie mate says "nah, man, it's St James' Park, like on the sign."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	Geordie	Geordie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	mate	mate	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	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
12	St	St	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	James	James	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	'	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	Park	Park	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	like	like	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a Geordie mate |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | mate | St James's Park |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* Who's right for that ground?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t5:3
# text = Who's right for that ground?
1	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody can know

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t5:o1:1
# text = Nobody can know
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | can | Nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both are wrong

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t5:o2:1
# text = Both are wrong
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Geordie mate, copy the official name

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t5:o3:1
# text = The Geordie mate, copy the official name
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	Geordie	Geordie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	copy	copy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	official	official	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **copy** | infinitive | the Geordie mate | the official name |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent name=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fan, there's one rule for all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t5:o4:1
# text = The fan, there's one rule for all
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fan	fan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	5	expl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | one rule for all | the fan |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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