---
title: Your mate goes "babies don't learn nothing till they talk, bruv." Wh… — How babies learn to talk · tree and pragmatics
description: Your mate goes "babies don't learn nothing till they talk, bruv." What's true? Test 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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# Test 1 · ★ · How babies learn to talk

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your mate goes "babies don't learn nothing till they talk, bruv." What's true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** mate, babies · **What happens:** go, not learn, talk, be · **To what, where:** nothing, bruv

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 31 «How babies learn to talk» 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/31-how-babies-learn-to-talk/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your mate goes "babies don't learn nothing till they talk, bruv."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t1:1
# text = Your mate goes "babies don't learn nothing till they talk, bruv."
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	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
6	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
9	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	obj	_	_
10	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	talk	talk	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	bruv	bruv	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	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 | **not** **learn** *in a quote* | present · do-support | babies | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |
| 3 | **talk** *in a quote* | present | babies *= baby* | bruv |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:* What's true?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t1:2
# text = What's true?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	true	true	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 |  |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They only learn after age three

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t1:o1:1
# text = They only learn after age three
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	learn	learn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	after	after	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | present | They | three |  |  | after age |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent three=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They only learn from books

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t1:o2:1
# text = They only learn from books
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	learn	learn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | present | They |  |  | books |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent from book=Source |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They start learning from before birth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t1:o3:1
# text = They start learning from before birth
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	start	start	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	learning	learn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	before	before	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **learn** | gerund | They *not said here* |  |  | birth |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent from birth=Source |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He's right, they learn nothing until their first word

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t1:o4:1
# text = He's right, they learn nothing until their first word
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	learn	learn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
7	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	obj	_	_
8	until	until	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	11	amod	_	_
11	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **learn** | present | they | nothing |  |  | until their first word |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |
| 3 | **word** |  | their *= they* |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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