---
title: An American gran says "Your family are lovely" sounds weird. Is the… — Nouns: the names of things, people, pl… · tree and pragmatics
description: An American gran says "Your family are lovely" sounds weird. Is the British version wrong? Test 9 of lesson 2 «Nouns: the names of things, people, places and ideas» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's cho
---

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# Test 9 · Nouns: the names of things, people, places and ideas

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An American gran says "Your family are lovely" sounds weird. Is the British version wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** American gran, family, lovely · **What happens:** say, be, sound · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 2 «Nouns: the names of things, people, places and ideas» 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/2-nouns-names-of-things-people-places-ideas/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* An American gran says "Your family are lovely" sounds weird.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:2-nouns-names-of-things-people-places-ideas:t9:1
# text = An American gran says "Your family are lovely" sounds weird.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	gran	gran	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	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	lovely	lovely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	sounds	sound	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
12	weird	weird	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a American gran |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Your family |  |  |  |  | lovely *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **sound** | present | lovely |  |  |  |  | weird *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- .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:* Is the British version wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:2-nouns-names-of-things-people-places-ideas:t9:2
# text = Is the British version wrong?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	version	version	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | the British version *obl:unmarked*; wrong *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, family can never take "are"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:2-nouns-names-of-things-people-places-ideas:t9:o1:1
# text = Yes, family can never take "are"
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | can | family |  |  |  |  | take *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, but only in poems

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:2-nouns-names-of-things-people-places-ideas:t9:o2:1
# text = No, but only in poems
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	poems	poem	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, both forms are correct in their own country

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:2-nouns-names-of-things-people-places-ideas:t9:o3:1
# text = No, both forms are correct in their own country
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	forms	form	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	correct	correct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
9	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | both forms |  |  | forms's own country |  | correct *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, British English is always wrong

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:2-nouns-names-of-things-people-places-ideas:t9:o4:1
# text = Yes, British English is always wrong
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	7	advmod	_	_
7	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 | British English |  |  |  |  | always, wrong *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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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- ↑ back to [Nouns: the names of things, people, places and ideas](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/2-nouns-names-of-things-people-places-ideas/)