---
title: Your mate goes "a sentence with no verb is fine if it's well long."… — Verbs: doing words and being words · tree and pragmatics
description: Your mate goes "a sentence with no verb is fine if it's well long." Is he right? Test 1 of lesson 3 «Verbs: doing words and being words» 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 1 · Verbs: doing words and being words

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your mate goes "a sentence with no verb is fine if it's well long." Is he right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** mate, sentence · **What happens:** go, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 of lesson 3 «Verbs: doing words and being words» 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/3-verbs-doing-words-and-being-words/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your mate goes "a sentence with no verb is fine if it's well long."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:3-verbs-doing-words-and-being-words:t1:1
# text = Your mate goes "a sentence with no verb is fine if it's well long."
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	verb	verb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	16	advmod	_	_
16	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present | Your mate |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | a sentence with no verb |  |  |  |  | fine *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | sentence |  |  |  |  | long, well *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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:* Is he right?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:3-verbs-doing-words-and-being-words:t1:2
# text = Is he right?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, if it has lots of nouns

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:3-verbs-doing-words-and-being-words:t1:o1:1
# text = Yes, if it has lots of nouns
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	lots	lot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	nouns	noun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | it | lots of nouns |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lot=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, length alone makes a sentence complete

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:3-verbs-doing-words-and-being-words:t1:o2:1
# text = Yes, length alone makes a sentence complete
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	complete	complete	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | length | a sentence |  |  |  | complete *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset sentence=Product |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it needs at least three verbs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:3-verbs-doing-words-and-being-words:t1:o3:1
# text = No, it needs at least three verbs
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	nmod	_	_
7	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	verbs	verb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | it | three verbs |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot verb=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, a full sentence needs at least one verb

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:3-verbs-doing-words-and-being-words:t1:o4:1
# text = No, a full sentence needs at least one verb
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	nmod	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	verb	verb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | a full sentence | one verb |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot verb=Theme |

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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: [Nouns: the names of things, people, pl…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/2-nouns-names-of-things-people-places-ideas/e4/)
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