---
title: What would English be like if the Normans had never come? — Where English came from · tree and pragmatics
description: What would English be like if the Normans had never come? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 22 «Where English came from» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · Where English came from

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would English be like if the Normans had never come?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Normans · **What happens:** not come

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 22 «Where English came from» 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/22-where-english-came-from/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:22-where-english-came-from:t11:1
# text = What would English be like if the Normans had never come?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	1	case	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Normans	Norman	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **come** | past | the Normans |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be French

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:22-where-english-came-from:t11:o1:1
# text = It would be French
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would have no words at all for food, law or kings

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:22-where-english-came-from:t11:o2:1
# text = It would have no words at all for food, law or kings
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	kings	king	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | would | It | no words |  | all |  | for food and law or kings | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be exactly the same as it is today, word for word

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:22-where-english-came-from:t11:o3:1
# text = It would be exactly the same as it is today, word for word
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
4	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | It |  |  |  |  | exactly, same *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | as today word; for word | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would probably have far fewer French words

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:22-where-english-came-from:t11:o4:1
# text = It would probably have far fewer French words
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
6	fewer	few	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	amod	_	_
7	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | would | It | fewer French words |  |  |  | probably *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |

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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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