---
title: What would happen if you translated "hang noodles on ears" word for… — Idioms taken literally · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if you translated "hang noodles on ears" word for word into English for a friend? Test 3 · ★★ of lesson 25 «Idioms taken literally» 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 3 · ★★ · Idioms taken literally

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if you translated "hang noodles on ears" word for word into English for a friend?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** happen, translate, hang · **To what, where:** hang word, English, noodles, ears

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 25 «Idioms taken literally» 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/25-idioms-taken-literally/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t3:1
# text = What would happen if you translated "hang noodles on ears" word for word into English for a friend?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	translated	translate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	hang	hang	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	compound	_	_
9	noodles	noodle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
13	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
16	into	into	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **translate** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | you | hang word |  |  |  | into English *result*; for word; for a friend | vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent word=Patient into english=Result |
| 3 | **hang** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | noodles |  | ears |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent noodle=Theme on ear=Destination |

<!-- .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 turn into "pull your leg" all by itself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t3:o1:1
# text = It would turn into "pull your leg" all by itself
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	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
7	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
10	all	all	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would | It |  |  |  |  | by leg; all *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme by itself=Trajectory |
| 2 | **pull** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | your leg |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They'd picture real noodles and miss the meaning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t3:o2:1
# text = They'd picture real noodles and miss the meaning
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	picture	picture	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	noodles	noodle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	miss	miss	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **picture** | would | They | real noodles |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent noodle=Theme |
| 2 | **miss** | present | They *not said here* | the meaning |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer meaning=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They'd understand it at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t3:o3:1
# text = They'd understand it at once
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | would | They | it |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would mean exactly the same in every language

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t3:o4:1
# text = It would mean exactly the same in every language
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	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
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	3	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | would | It | the same |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent same=Topic |

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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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- ← previous: [Idioms taken literally, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/25-idioms-taken-literally/t2/)
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