---
title: Why might comparing an English word with German help you guess its o… — Words that changed their meaning · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might comparing an English word with German help you guess its old meaning? Test 10 of lesson 38 «Words that changed their meaning» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 10 · Words that changed their meaning

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might comparing an English word with German help you guess its old meaning?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, help · **What happens:** compare, guess, mean · **To what, where:** English word, old meaning

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 38 «Words that changed their meaning» 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/38-words-that-changed-their-meaning/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:38-words-that-changed-their-meaning:t10:1
# text = Why might comparing an English word with German help you guess its old meaning?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	comparing	compare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	guess	guess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
12	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **compare** | might |  | a English word |  |  |  | with German help | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent word=Patient with help=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **guess** | present | you | help's old meaning |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme |
| 3 | **mean** |  | help |  |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: poss=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
German speakers invented every English word and gave them to England later

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:38-words-that-changed-their-meaning:t10:o1:1
# text = German speakers invented every English word and gave them to England later
1	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	speakers	speaker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	invented	invent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
5	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	iobj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	England	England	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invent** | past | German speakers | every English word |  |  |  | late *property* | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Result |
| 2 | **give** | past | German speakers *not said here* |  | speakers *= speaker* |  |  | to England | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Theme to england=Recipient |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
English and German are related, so German sometimes keeps the old sense

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:38-words-that-changed-their-meaning:t10:o2:1
# text = English and German are related, so German sometimes keeps the old sense
1	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	related	related	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
9	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	10	advmod	_	_
10	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | English |  |  |  |  | related *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | English *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **keep** | present | English *not said here* | the old sense |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sense=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
English copied all its words from German last century

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:38-words-that-changed-their-meaning:t10:o3:1
# text = English copied all its words from German last century
1	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	copied	copy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	5	det:predet	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **copy** | past | English | its words |  |  | century |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 2 | **word** |  | its *= it* |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
German words never change meaning at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:38-words-that-changed-their-meaning:t10:o4:1
# text = German words never change meaning at all
1	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **change** | present | German words | meaning |  | all |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=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.

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