---
title: A boomer uncle writes "the 1980's were rad." ("Rad" means great.) Ho… — The apostrophe war · tree and pragmatics
description: A boomer uncle writes "the 1980's were rad." ("Rad" means great.) How would a modern style guide write the decade? Test 8 · ★ 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 w
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · The apostrophe war

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boomer uncle writes "the 1980's were rad." ("Rad" means great.) How would a modern style guide write the decade?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** boomer uncle, 1980's, Rad, modern style guide · **What happens:** write, be, mean · **To what, where:** rad · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boomer uncle writes "the 1980's were rad."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t8:1
# text = A boomer uncle writes "the 1980's were rad."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	boomer	boomer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	uncle	uncle	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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	1980's	1980'	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	9	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	rad	rad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | present | a boomer uncle |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | the 1980's | rad |  |  |  |  | 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:* ("Rad" means great.)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t8:2
# text = ("Rad" means great.)
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Rad	rad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
5	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Rad |  |  |  |  | great *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* How would a modern style guide write the decade?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t8:3
# text = How would a modern style guide write the decade?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	modern	modern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	style	style	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	guide	guide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	decade	decade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | would | a modern style guide |  |  |  | decade |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the 1980's

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t8:o1:1
# text = the 1980's
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	1980's	1980'	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the 1980s'

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t8:o2:1
# text = the 1980s'
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	1980s	1980s	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	'	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the 1980s

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t8:o3:1
# text = the 1980s
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	1980s	1980s	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the 80s's

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:t8:o4:1
# text = the 80s's
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	80s	80	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
```

<!-- .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: [The apostrophe war, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/t7/)
- next →: [The apostrophe war, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/t9/)
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