---
title: A cartoon cat says, "My birthday comes once in my life." Put it right. — Birthdays, ages and "how many sleeps" · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon cat says, "My birthday comes once in my life." Put it right. Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 114 «Birthdays, ages and "how many sleeps"» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 11 · ★★ · Birthdays, ages and "how many sleeps"

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon cat says, "My birthday comes once in my life." Put it right.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cartoon cat, birthday, you · **What happens:** say, come, put · **To what, where:** life, birthday · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 114 «Birthdays, ages and "how many sleeps"» 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/114-birthdays-ages-and-how-many-sleeps/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon cat says, "My birthday comes once in my life."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:114-birthdays-ages-and-how-many-sleeps:t11:1
# text = A cartoon cat says, "My birthday comes once in my life."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	cat	cat	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	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	birthday	birthday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
10	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	9	advmod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a cartoon cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **come** *in a quote* | present | My birthday |  |  | my life |  | once *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in life=Location |

<!-- .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:114-birthdays-ages-and-how-many-sleeps:t11:2
# 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* | birthday |  |  |  | right *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent it=Goal |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A birthday only happens on your first day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:114-birthdays-ages-and-how-many-sleeps:t11:o1:1
# text = A birthday only happens on your first day
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	birthday	birthday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	happens	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	amod	_	_
8	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | present | a birthday |  |  |  | day |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A birthday comes every 4 years for everyone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:114-birthdays-ages-and-how-many-sleeps:t11:o2:1
# text = A birthday comes every 4 years for everyone
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	birthday	birthday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
5	4	4	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | present | a birthday |  |  |  | year |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A birthday only happens in leap years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:114-birthdays-ages-and-how-many-sleeps:t11:o3:1
# text = A birthday only happens in leap years
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	birthday	birthday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	happens	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	leap	leap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | present | a birthday |  |  |  | year |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A birthday comes round again every year on the same date

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:114-birthdays-ages-and-how-many-sleeps:t11:o4:1
# text = A birthday comes round again every year on the same date
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	birthday	birthday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	round	round	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	again	again	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	date	date	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come round** | present | a birthday |  |  | the same date | again; year | round *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on date=Location |

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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: [Birthdays, ages and "how many sleeps", test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/114-birthdays-ages-and-how-many-sleeps/t10/)
- next →: [Birthdays, ages and "how many sleeps", exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/114-birthdays-ages-and-how-many-sleeps/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Birthdays, ages and "how many sleeps"](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/114-birthdays-ages-and-how-many-sleeps/)