---
title: Why is it surprising that English borrowed "they" from the Vikings? — Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is it surprising that English borrowed "they" from the Vikings? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 23 «Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin» 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 10 · ★ · Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is it surprising that English borrowed "they" from the Vikings?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** it, English · **What happens:** surprise, borrow · **To what, where:** they, Vikings

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 23 «Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin» 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/23-borrowed-words-french-norse-and-latin/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:23-borrowed-words-french-norse-and-latin:t10:1
# text = Why is it surprising that English borrowed "they" from the Vikings?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	surprising	surprise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	borrowed	borrow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Vikings	Viking	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **surprise** | present · progressive | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP-PRO-ARB»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **borrow** | past | English | they |  | the Vikings |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from viking=Source |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Vikings never used the word "they"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:23-borrowed-words-french-norse-and-latin:t10:o1:1
# text = Vikings never used the word "they"
1	Vikings	Viking	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **use** | past | Vikings | the word |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Small everyday words like that are rarely borrowed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:23-borrowed-words-french-norse-and-latin:t10:o2:1
# text = Small everyday words like that are rarely borrowed
1	Small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
2	everyday	everyday	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nmod	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
7	rarely	rarely	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	borrowed	borrow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **borrow** | present · passive |  | Small everyday words like that |  |  |  | rarely *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"They" is a French word

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:23-borrowed-words-french-norse-and-latin:t10:o3:1
# text = "They" is a French word
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | They | a French word |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
English had no people in it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:23-borrowed-words-french-norse-and-latin:t10:o4:1
# text = English had no people in it
1	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | English | no people |  | it |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=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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- ↑ back to [Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/23-borrowed-words-french-norse-and-latin/)