---
title: A cartoon pirate buys a whole ship with one shiny button. What's wro… — What money is and why people accept it · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon pirate buys a whole ship with one shiny button. What's wrong with this? Test 3 of lesson 1 «What money is and why people accept it» of the money 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 · What money is and why people accept it

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon pirate buys a whole ship with one shiny button. What's wrong with this?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cartoon pirate · **What happens:** buy, be · **To what, where:** whole ship

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This is test 3 of lesson 1 «What money is and why people accept it» of the money 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/money/1-what-money-is-and-why-people-accept-it/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon pirate buys a whole ship with one shiny button.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:1-what-money-is-and-why-people-accept-it:t3:1
# text = A cartoon pirate buys a whole ship with one shiny button.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	pirate	pirate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	buys	buy	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
10	shiny	shiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	button	button	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | present | a cartoon pirate | a whole ship |  |  |  | with one shiny button | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ship=Theme |

<!-- .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 wrong with this?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:1-what-money-is-and-why-people-accept-it:t3:2
# text = What's wrong with this?
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	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | with this; wrong *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ships can only be bought with yo-yos

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:1-what-money-is-and-why-people-accept-it:t3:o1:1
# text = Ships can only be bought with yo-yos
1	Ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	bought	buy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	yo	yo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	yos	yo	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | can · passive |  | Ships |  |  |  | with yo yos | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pirates always paid with buttons, so it's correct

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:1-what-money-is-and-why-people-accept-it:t3:o2:1
# text = Pirates always paid with buttons, so it's correct
1	Pirates	pirate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	paid	pay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	buttons	button	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	correct	correct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | past | Pirates |  |  |  |  | with buttons; always *property* | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | correct *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A button isn't money, because nobody agreed to take it as money

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:1-what-money-is-and-why-people-accept-it:t3:o3:1
# text = A button isn't money, because nobody agreed to take it as money
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	button	button	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	9	nsubj	_	_
9	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	as	as	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | present | a button | money |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | nobody | money *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent that S»: agent=Agent money=Co-Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **take** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | nobody *not said here* | button |  |  |  | as money | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent it=Theme as money=Attribute |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, buttons were money in pirate times

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:1-what-money-is-and-why-people-accept-it:t3:o4:1
# text = Nothing, buttons were money in pirate times
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	buttons	button	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	pirate	pirate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Nothing buttons | money |  |  | time |  | 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.

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- ← previous: [What money is and why people accept it, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/money/1-what-money-is-and-why-people-accept-it/t2/)
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