---
title: Your baby cousin calls every round thing "ball", even the Moon. What… — How babies learn to talk · tree and pragmatics
description: Your baby cousin calls every round thing "ball", even the Moon. What should you do? Test 11 · ★ 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 11 · ★ · How babies learn to talk

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your baby cousin calls every round thing "ball", even the Moon. What should you do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** baby cousin, you · **What happens:** call, do · **To what, where:** round thing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 11 · ★ 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/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your baby cousin calls every round thing "ball", even the Moon.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t11:1
# text = Your baby cousin calls every round thing "ball", even the Moon.
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	cousin	cousin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	calls	call	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
6	round	round	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	even	even	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | present | Your baby cousin | every round thing |  |  |  | the Moon *obl* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent thing=Recipient |

<!-- .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 should you do?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t11:2
# text = What should you do?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Agree the Moon is a ball to play with

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t11:o1:1
# text = Agree the Moon is a ball to play with
1	Agree	agree	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	ccomp	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **agree** *speech: agree* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | the Moon | a ball |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **play** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Never mention the Moon to her ever again

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t11:o2:1
# text = Never mention the Moon to her ever again
1	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
2	mention	mention	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
7	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	8	advmod	_	_
8	again	again	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **mention** *speech: other* | imperative | you *not said here* | the Moon | her *= she* |  | again |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent moon=Topic to she=Recipient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tell her off for being so silly about it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t11:o3:1
# text = Tell her off for being so silly about it
1	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	iobj	_	_
3	off	off	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	obl	_	_
8	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell off** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* |  | her *= she* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | about it; silly *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Name it for her: "That's the Moon!"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t11:o4:1
# text = Name it for her: "That's the Moon!"
1	Name	name	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **name** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | for her *= she* | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | That | the Moon |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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