---
title: A cartoon hero says, "Count to three Mississippis, that's three minu… — Alarms, stopwatches and how long a sec… · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon hero says, "Count to three Mississippis, that's three minutes!" Put it right. Test 10 of lesson 105 «Alarms, stopwatches and how long a second is» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was rig
---

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# Test 10 · Alarms, stopwatches and how long a second is

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon hero says, "Count to three Mississippis, that's three minutes!" Put it right.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cartoon hero, three Mississippis, you · **What happens:** say, count, be, put · **To what, where:** three minutes, it · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 105 «Alarms, stopwatches and how long a second is» of the world 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/world/105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon hero says, "Count to three Mississippis, that's three minutes!"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is:t10:1
# text = A cartoon hero says, "Count to three Mississippis, that's three minutes!"
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	hero	hero	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Count	count	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	Mississippis	mississippi	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: express* | present | a cartoon hero |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **count** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to three Mississippis | vn matter-91 «NP V PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus to mississippi=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | three Mississippis | three minutes |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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:* Put it right.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is:t10:2
# text = Put it right.
1	Put	put	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	right	right	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | right *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent it=Goal |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is about three seconds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is:t10:o1:1
# text = It is about three seconds
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	about	about	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | three seconds |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is exactly three minutes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is:t10:o2:1
# text = It is exactly three minutes
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | three minutes |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is about three hours

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is:t10:o3:1
# text = It is about three hours
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	about	about	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | three hours |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is about thirty seconds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is:t10:o4:1
# text = It is about thirty seconds
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	about	about	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	thirty	thirty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | thirty seconds |  |  |  |  | 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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