---
title: What would happen if you wrote "Let's eat Grandma!" on Grandma's bir… — The big language quiz · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if you wrote "Let's eat Grandma!" on Grandma's birthday card with no comma? Test 8 of lesson 40 «The big language quiz» 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 · The big language quiz

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if you wrote "Let's eat Grandma!" on Grandma's birthday card with no comma?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, 's · **What happens:** happen, write, let, eat · **To what, where:** birthday card, 's, Grandma · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 40 «The big language quiz» 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/40-the-big-language-quiz/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:40-the-big-language-quiz:t8:1
# text = What would happen if you wrote "Let's eat Grandma!" on Grandma's birthday card with no comma?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	Grandma	grandma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	Grandma	Grandma	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	's	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	birthday	birthday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	card	card	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	21	det	_	_
21	comma	comma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  | Grandma's birthday card with no comma |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on card=Location |
| 2 | **write** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive | you *not said here* | 's |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **eat** *in a quote* | infinitive | 's *not said here* | Grandma |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grandma=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
It would turn into a question

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:40-the-big-language-quiz:t8:o1:1
# text = It would turn into a question
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would | It |  |  | a question |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme into question=Trajectory |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, commas never change meaning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:40-the-big-language-quiz:t8:o2:1
# text = Nothing, commas never change meaning
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	commas	comma	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **change** | present | Nothing commas | meaning |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would sound like you plan to eat her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:40-the-big-language-quiz:t8:o3:1
# text = It would sound like you plan to eat her
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	sound	sound	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	plan	plan	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sound** | would | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **plan** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **eat** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would mean Grandma is cooking

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:40-the-big-language-quiz:t8:o4:1
# text = It would mean Grandma is cooking
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	Grandma	Grandma	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	cooking	cooking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | would | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | Grandma cooking |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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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