---
title: Theo's dad: "The week before payday, we're always counting pennies."… — Wages, salary and where family money c… · tree and pragmatics
description: Theo's dad: "The week before payday, we're always counting pennies." Why? Test 9 of lesson 20 «Wages, salary and where family money comes from» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 9 · Wages, salary and where family money comes from

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Theo's dad: "The week before payday, we're always counting pennies." Why?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** dad · **What happens:** count · **To what, where:** pennies

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 20 «Wages, salary and where family money comes from» 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/20-wages-salary-and-where-family-money-comes-from/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Theo's dad: "The week before payday, we're always counting pennies."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:20-wages-salary-and-where-family-money-comes-from:t9:1
# text = Theo's dad: "The week before payday, we're always counting pennies."
1	Theo	Theo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	week	week	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
8	before	before	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	payday	payday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
11	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	're	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	14	advmod	_	_
14	counting	count	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
15	pennies	penny	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **count** *in a quote* | present · progressive | Theo's dad | pennies |  |  |  | always *property* | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent penny=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:* Why?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:20-wages-salary-and-where-family-money-comes-from:t9:2
# text = Why?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He just likes counting coins

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:20-wages-salary-and-where-family-money-comes-from:t9:o1:1
# text = He just likes counting coins
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	just	just	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	likes	like	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	counting	count	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	coins	coin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **like** | present | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **count** *not said to happen* | gerund | He *not said here* | coins |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent coin=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bank closes for a week every month

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:20-wages-salary-and-where-family-money-comes-from:t9:o2:1
# text = The bank closes for a week every month
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	closes	close	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	week	week	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **close** | present | the bank |  |  |  | month; week |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Monthly pay has to last the whole month, so money gets tight near the end

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:20-wages-salary-and-where-family-money-comes-from:t9:o3:1
# text = Monthly pay has to last the whole month, so money gets tight near the end
1	Monthly	monthly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	pay	pay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	last	last	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	gets	get	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
13	tight	tight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	xcomp	_	_
14	near	near	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Monthly pay |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **last** | to-infinitive | Monthly pay *not said here* |  |  |  | month |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **get** | present | money |  |  |  | near the end | tight *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pennies are worth more before payday

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:20-wages-salary-and-where-family-money-comes-from:t9:o4:1
# text = Pennies are worth more before payday
1	Pennies	penny	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	obj	_	_
5	before	before	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	payday	payday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Pennies |  |  |  | before payday | worth *property* | 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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