---
title: What would happen if English had no tenses or time words? — Tenses: past, present and future · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if English had no tenses or time words? Test 3 · ★★ of lesson 8 «Tenses: past, present and future» 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 3 · ★★ · Tenses: past, present and future

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if English had no tenses or time words?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 8 «Tenses: past, present and future» 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/8-tenses-past-present-future/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:8-tenses-past-present-future:t3:1
# text = What would happen if English had no tenses or time words?
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	tenses	tense	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	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 tenses or time words |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tense=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 -->
Only questions would make sense

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:8-tenses-past-present-future:t3:o1:1
# text = Only questions would make sense
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | would | questions | sense |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset sense=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All stories would be in the future

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:8-tenses-past-present-future:t3:o2:1
# text = All stories would be in the future
1	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	future	future	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | all stories |  |  | the future |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, verbs never show time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:8-tenses-past-present-future:t3:o3:1
# text = Nothing, verbs never show time
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	verbs	verb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **show** | present | Nothing verbs |  |  |  | time |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You couldn't easily tell if something happened, is happening or will happen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:8-tenses-past-present-future:t3:o4:1
# text = You couldn't easily tell if something happened, is happening or will happen
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	8	nsubj	_	_
8	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	happening	happen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | could | You |  |  |  |  | easily *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **happen** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | something |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **happen** | present · progressive | You *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **happen** | future | You *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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