---
title: In a cartoon a baby says "Good morning, Father, please pass the toas… — How babies learn to talk · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon a baby says "Good morning, Father, please pass the toast" on day one. What's wrong? Test 7 · ★ 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 7 · ★ · How babies learn to talk

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon a baby says "Good morning, Father, please pass the toast" on day one. What's wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** baby, Father · **What happens:** say, pass, be · **To what, where:** cartoon, toast · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 7 · ★ 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon a baby says "Good morning, Father, please pass the toast" on day one.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t7:1
# text = In a cartoon a baby says "Good morning, Father, please pass the toast" on day one.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
13	please	please	INTJ	UH	_	14	discourse	_	_
14	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	toast	toast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a baby |  |  | a cartoon | morning |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **pass** *in a quote* | infinitive | Father | the toast |  |  | day |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme toast=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t7:2
# text = What's wrong?
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	wrong	wrong	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 |  |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Babies speak only French

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t7:o1:1
# text = Babies speak only French
1	Babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	speak	speak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | Babies | French |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Babies only say "toast" first

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t7:o2:1
# text = Babies only say "toast" first
1	Babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	toast	toast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
7	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Babies | toast |  |  |  | first *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent toast=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, healthy babies can talk in full sentences from birth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t7:o3:1
# text = Nothing, healthy babies can talk in full sentences from birth
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	healthy	healthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	sentences	sentence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | can | healthy babies |  |  | full sentences |  | from birth | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Real babies babble first and say first words around one year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:t7:o4:1
# text = Real babies babble first and say first words around one year
1	Real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	babble	babble	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
7	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	amod	_	_
8	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	around	around	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **babble** | present | Real babies |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive | Real babies *not said here* | first words |  |  | year |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |

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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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