---
title: Your cousin from Newcastle says "howay man, that trainer cost an arm… — Idioms taken literally · tree and pragmatics
description: Your cousin from Newcastle says "howay man, that trainer cost an arm and a leg, canny dear." ("Howay" means come on; "canny dear" here means quite expensive.) What did the trainer cost? Test 4 · ★★ of lesson 25 «Idioms taken literally» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the depend
---

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# Test 4 · ★★ · Idioms taken literally

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your cousin from Newcastle says "howay man, that trainer cost an arm and a leg, canny dear." ("Howay" means come on; "canny dear" here means quite expensive.) What did the trainer cost?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cousin, howay man, Howay, canny dear · **What happens:** say, cost, mean, come on, do · **To what, where:** arm, trainer cost · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your cousin from Newcastle says "howay man, that trainer cost an arm and a leg, canny dear."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t4:1
# text = Your cousin from Newcastle says "howay man, that trainer cost an arm and a leg, canny dear."
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	cousin	cousin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Newcastle	Newcastle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	howay	howay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	trainer	trainer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
12	cost	cost	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	canny	canny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Your cousin from Newcastle |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **cost** *in a quote* | past | howay man and that trainer | a arm and a leg |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme arm=Value |

<!-- .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:* ("Howay" means come on; "canny dear" here means quite expensive.)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t4:2
# text = ("Howay" means come on; "canny dear" here means quite expensive.)
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Howay	Howay	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
5	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
7	on	on	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	canny	canny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
13	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
14	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
15	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	expensive	expensive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Howay |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **come on** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **mean** | present | canny dear |  |  | here |  | expensive *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What did the trainer cost?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t4:3
# text = What did the trainer cost?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	trainer	trainer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	cost	cost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  | the trainer cost |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cost=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, it was free

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t4:o1:1
# text = Nothing, it was free
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Nothing |  |  |  |  | free *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Very little money

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t4:o2:1
# text = Very little money
1	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A lot of money

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t4:o3:1
# text = A lot of money
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His arm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t4:o4:1
# text = His arm
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .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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