---
title: A man on a phone-in says "speak properly, like they decide in London… — Is there one proper English? The big a… · tree and pragmatics
description: A man on a phone-in says "speak properly, like they decide in London!" Who actually decides? Test 8 · ★★★ 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 
---

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# Test 8 · ★★★ · Is there one proper English? The big arguments

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A man on a phone-in says "speak properly, like they decide in London!" Who actually decides?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** man, they · **What happens:** say, speak, decide · **To what, where:** London · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A man on a phone-in says "speak properly, like they decide in London!"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t8:1
# text = A man on a phone-in says "speak properly, like they decide in London!"
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	phone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	in	in	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
11	properly	properly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	decide	decide	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	London	London	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: express* | present | a man on a phone in |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | properly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **decide** *in a quote* | present | they |  |  | London |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:* Who actually decides?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t8:2
# text = Who actually decides?
1	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
2	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	decides	decide	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decide** | present |  |  |  |  |  | actually *property* | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody officially; dictionaries follow how people use words

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t8:o1:1
# text = Nobody officially; dictionaries follow how people use words
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	compound	_	_
2	officially	officially	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
4	dictionaries	dictionary	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	follow	follow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
9	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | present | Nobody dictionaries |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **use** | present | people | words |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The King and the Prime Minister together

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t8:o2:1
# text = The King and the Prime Minister together
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	Prime	Prime	PROPN	NNP	_	6	compound	_	_
6	Minister	Minister	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
7	together	together	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The teachers of one school in Oxford

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t8:o3:1
# text = The teachers of one school in Oxford
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	teachers	teacher	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Oxford	Oxford	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A group of judges in London who meet every Friday

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:20-is-there-one-proper-english:t8:o4:1
# text = A group of judges in London who meet every Friday
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	group	group	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	judges	judge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	London	London	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	meet	meet	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
9	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	det	_	_
10	Friday	Friday	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **meet** | present | judges in London |  |  |  | friday |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «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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