---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises babb… — How babies learn to talk · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises babbling in infants? Exam question 1 of lesson 31 «How babies learn to talk» 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 right.
---

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# Exam question 1 · How babies learn to talk

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises babbling in infants?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** babbling

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 31 «How babies learn to talk» of the language course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/31-how-babies-learn-to-talk/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises babbling in infants?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	babbling	babbling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	infants	infant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | babbling |  |  |  | of the following statements; in infants; accurately *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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It occurs only in infants of bilingual parents

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:e1:o1:1
# text = It occurs only in infants of bilingual parents
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	occurs	occur	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	infants	infant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	bilingual	bilingual	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **occur** | present | It | infants of bilingual parents |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It constitutes the production of fully formed words

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:e1:o2:1
# text = It constitutes the production of fully formed words
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	production	production	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	fully	fully	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	formed	form	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **constitute** | present | It | the production of formed words |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme production=Pivot |
| 2 | **form** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | fully *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **produce** |  |  | formed words |  |  |  |  | nom production «act transitive»: of=patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It constitutes the practice of speech sounds preceding the production of words

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:e1:o3:1
# text = It constitutes the practice of speech sounds preceding the production of words
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	practice	practice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	sounds	sound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	preceding	precede	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	production	production	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **constitute** | present | It | the practice of speech sounds |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme practice=Pivot |
| 2 | **precede** | gerund | speech sounds *not said here* | the production of words |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme production=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **practice** |  |  | speech sounds |  |  |  |  | nom practice «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 4 | **produce** |  |  | words |  |  |  |  | nom production «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is an indication of a disorder of hearing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:e1:o4:1
# text = It is an indication of a disorder of hearing
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	indication	indication	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	disorder	disorder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	hearing	hearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a indication |  |  |  | of a disorder of hearing | tree rules |
| 2 | **disorder** |  |  | hearing |  |  |  |  | nom disorder «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- div src -->

**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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