---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises gram… — French compared with English · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises grammatical gender in French? Exam question 1 of lesson 35 «French compared with English» 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 wro
---

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# Exam question 1 · French compared with English

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises grammatical gender in French?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** grammatical gender, French

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 35 «French compared with English» 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/35-french-compared-with-english/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:35-french-compared-with-english:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises grammatical gender in French?
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	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	gender	gender	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	French	French	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	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 |  | grammatical gender |  | French |  | of the following statements; 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A feature shared with English nouns in the present day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:35-french-compared-with-english:e1:o1:1
# text = A feature shared with English nouns in the present day
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	feature	feature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	shared	share	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	nouns	noun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **share** | participle |  | a feature *not said here* |  |  | day | with English nouns | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An indication that each object denoted by a noun is, in reality, either male or female in nature

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:35-french-compared-with-english:e1:o2:1
# text = An indication that each object denoted by a noun is, in reality, either male or female in nature
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	indication	indication	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
4	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	object	object	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
6	denoted	denote	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	reality	reality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc:preconj	_	_
16	male	male	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	female	female	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **denote** | participle |  | each object *not said here* |  |  |  | by a noun | vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot |
| 2 | **is** | present | a indication |  |  | reality |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A feature confined to the names of animals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:35-french-compared-with-english:e1:o3:1
# text = A feature confined to the names of animals
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	feature	feature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	confined	confine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	names	name	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **confine** | participle |  | a feature *not said here* |  | the names of animals |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to name=Destination |
| 2 | **name** |  |  | animals |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A classification of nouns as masculine or feminine for grammatical purposes, unrelated to biological sex

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:35-french-compared-with-english:e1:o4:1
# text = A classification of nouns as masculine or feminine for grammatical purposes, unrelated to biological sex
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	classification	classification	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	nouns	noun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	masculine	masculine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	nmod	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	feminine	feminine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	purposes	purpose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	unrelated	unrelated	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	biological	biological	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	sex	sex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **classify** |  |  | nouns as masculine |  |  |  |  | nom classification «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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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