---
title: Puzzle: "I never said nothing to nobody." How many negative words ar… — Is there one proper English? The big a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Puzzle: "I never said nothing to nobody." How many negative words are in it? Test 10 · ★★★ of lesson 20 «Is there one proper English? The big arguments» 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 wron
---

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# Test 10 · ★★★ · Is there one proper English? The big arguments

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Puzzle: "I never said nothing to nobody." How many negative words are in it?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** I, many negative words · **What happens:** not say, be · **To what, where:** nothing, nobody, Puzzle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★★★ of lesson 20 «Is there one proper English? The big arguments» 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/20-is-there-one-proper-english/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Puzzle: "I never said nothing to nobody."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t10:1
# text = Puzzle: "I never said nothing to nobody."
1	Puzzle	puzzle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	obj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | I | nothing | nobody |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic to nobody=Recipient |

<!-- .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:* How many negative words are in it?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t10:2
# text = How many negative words are in it?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	negative	negative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | many negative words |  |  | Puzzle |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One: never

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t10:o1:1
# text = One: never
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	1	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Three: never, nothing, nobody

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t10:o2:1
# text = Three: never, nothing, nobody
1	Three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two: never and nothing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t10:o3:1
# text = Two: never and nothing
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	1	conj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	1	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Four: I, never, nothing, nobody

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t10:o4:1
# text = Four: I, never, nothing, nobody
1	Four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .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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