---
title: What would happen if English had no pronouns at all? — Pronouns: I, me, you, they and who · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if English had no pronouns at all? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 5 «Pronouns: I, me, you, they and who» 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 6 · ★ · Pronouns: I, me, you, they and who

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if English had no pronouns at all?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** English · **What happens:** happen, have · **To what, where:** pronouns, all

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 5 «Pronouns: I, me, you, they and who» 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/5-pronouns-i-me-you-they-and-who/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:5-pronouns-i-me-you-they-and-who:t6:1
# text = What would happen if English had no pronouns at all?
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	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
8	pronouns	pronoun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | English | no pronouns |  | all |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pronoun=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 -->
Sentences would become shorter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:5-pronouns-i-me-you-they-and-who:t6:o1:1
# text = Sentences would become shorter
1	Sentences	sentence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	shorter	short	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | would | Sentences |  |  |  |  | short *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, because names already do the same job perfectly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:5-pronouns-i-me-you-they-and-who:t6:o2:1
# text = Nothing, because names already do the same job perfectly
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	names	name	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	already	already	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	job	job	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	perfectly	perfectly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present | names | the same job |  |  |  | perfectly *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent job=Eventuality |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We'd never know who did anything

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:5-pronouns-i-me-you-they-and-who:t6:o3:1
# text = We'd never know who did anything
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
7	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | would | We |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **do** | past |  | anything |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We'd repeat names and nouns again and again

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:5-pronouns-i-me-you-they-and-who:t6:o4:1
# text = We'd repeat names and nouns again and again
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	repeat	repeat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	names	name	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	nouns	noun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
7	again	again	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	again	again	ADV	RB	_	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **repeat** | would | We | names and nouns |  |  | again |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent name=Eventuality |

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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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