---
title: A cousin in Singapore: "Ball costs 10 cents lah, can or not?" A bat… — Sounds right, but is wrong · tree and pragmatics
description: A cousin in Singapore: "Ball costs 10 cents lah, can or not?" A bat and ball cost $1.10 and the bat costs $1 more. What is the answer? Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 183 «Sounds right, but is wrong» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of 
---

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# Test 11 · ★★ · Sounds right, but is wrong

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cousin in Singapore: "Ball costs 10 cents lah, can or not?" A bat and ball cost $1.10 and the bat costs $1 more. What is the answer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cousin, bat, answer · **What happens:** cost, be · **To what, where:** cents lah

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 183 «Sounds right, but is wrong» 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/183-sounds-right-but-is-wrong/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cousin in Singapore: "Ball costs 10 cents lah, can or not?"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:183-sounds-right-but-is-wrong:t11:1
# text = A cousin in Singapore: "Ball costs 10 cents lah, can or not?"
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cousin	cousin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Singapore	Singapore	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Ball	Ball	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	costs	cost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	10	10	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	cents	cent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	compound	_	_
11	lah	lah	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
14	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cost** *in a quote* | present | a cousin in Singapore | cents lah |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme lah=Value |

<!-- .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:* A bat and ball cost $1.10 and the bat costs $1 more.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:183-sounds-right-but-is-wrong:t11:2
# text = A bat and ball cost $1.10 and the bat costs $1 more.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bat	bat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
5	cost	cost	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	$	$	SYM	$	_	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	1.10	1.10	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bat	bat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	costs	cost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
12	$	$	SYM	$	_	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	1	1	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
14	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cost** | present | a bat and ball |  |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme $=Value |
| 2 | **cost** | present | the bat |  |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme $=Value |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What is the answer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:183-sounds-right-but-is-wrong:t11:3
# text = What is the answer?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Can; the bat costs exactly $1

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:183-sounds-right-but-is-wrong:t11:o1:1
# text = Can; the bat costs exactly $1
1	Can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bat	bat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	costs	cost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	$	$	SYM	$	_	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	1	1	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cost** | can | the bat |  |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme $=Value |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Can; the ball costs 10 cents

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:183-sounds-right-but-is-wrong:t11:o2:1
# text = Can; the ball costs 10 cents
1	Can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	costs	cost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	10	10	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	cents	cent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cost** | can | the ball | 10 cents |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme cent=Value |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cannot; the ball costs 5 cents

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:183-sounds-right-but-is-wrong:t11:o3:1
# text = Cannot; the ball costs 5 cents
1	Can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	;	;	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	csubj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	costs	cost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	5	5	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	cents	cent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **;** | can |  | the ball |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **cost** | present |  | 5 cents |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme cent=Value |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cannot; the ball costs 1 cent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:183-sounds-right-but-is-wrong:t11:o4:1
# text = Cannot; the ball costs 1 cent
1	Can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	;	;	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	csubj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	costs	cost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	1	1	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	cent	cent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **;** | can |  | the ball |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **cost** | present |  | 1 cent |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme cent=Value |

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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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