---
title: Zoe says "worse" must be a spelling mistake for "badder". What's true? — Adjectives and adverbs: describing thi… · tree and pragmatics
description: Zoe says "worse" must be a spelling mistake for "badder". What's true? Test 8 of lesson 4 «Adjectives and adverbs: describing things and actions» 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 8 · Adjectives and adverbs: describing things and actions

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Zoe says "worse" must be a spelling mistake for "badder". What's true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Zoe, worse · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** spelling mistake · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 4 «Adjectives and adverbs: describing things and actions» 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/4-adjectives-and-adverbs/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Zoe says "worse" must be a spelling mistake for "badder".

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:4-adjectives-and-adverbs:t8:1
# text = Zoe says "worse" must be a spelling mistake for "badder".
1	Zoe	Zoe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
6	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	cop	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	mistake	mistake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	badder	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Zoe |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | must | worse | a spelling mistake |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What's true?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:4-adjectives-and-adverbs:t8:2
# 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bad, worse, worst is an old irregular pattern

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:4-adjectives-and-adverbs:t8:o1:1
# text = Bad, worse, worst is an old irregular pattern
1	Bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	1	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	worst	bad	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	1	conj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	irregular	irregular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	pattern	pattern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | a Bad old irregular pattern |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Worse and badder are both school English

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:4-adjectives-and-adverbs:t8:o2:1
# text = Worse and badder are both school English
1	Worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	badder	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	1	conj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	both	both	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | Worse school |  |  |  | both *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Worse is the American spelling

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:4-adjectives-and-adverbs:t8:o3:1
# text = Worse is the American spelling
1	Worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the Worse American spelling |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She's right, it should be bad, badder, baddest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:4-adjectives-and-adverbs:t8:o4:1
# text = She's right, it should be bad, badder, baddest
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|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	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
8	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	badder	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	baddest	badd	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | She |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | should | it |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | She *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | 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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