--- title: Many "rules" are younger than you'd think: "ain't" was used by posh… — Is there one proper English? The big arguments · tree and pragmatics description: Many "rules" are younger than you'd think: "ain't" was used by posh people in the 1700s before grammar books attacked it, and the "never split an infinitive" rule (no word between "to" and the verb, as in Star Trek's "to boldly go") was copied from Latin in the 1800s; most modern guides say "to bold --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/20-is-there-one-proper-english/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/) / [Is there one proper English? The big a…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/20-is-there-one-proper-english/) / 2 # Is there one proper English? The big arguments, sentence 2 Many "rules" are younger than you'd think: "ain't" was used by posh people in the 1700s before grammar books attacked it, and the "never split an infinitive" rule (no word between "to" and the verb, as in Star Trek's "to boldly go") was copied from Latin in the 1800s; most modern guides say "to boldly go" is fine. **Who acts:** Many rules, you, posh people, grammar books, Star, most modern guides · **What happens:** be, think, not use, attack, not split, go · **To what, where:** 1700s, standard, infinitive, split rule, Latin · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of the lesson «Is there one proper English? The big arguments» of the language course of Mova's primary school. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Many rules, you, posh people, grammar books), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = school:language:020-is-there-one-proper-english.lesson:2 # text = Many "rules" are younger than you'd think: "ain't" was used by posh people in the 1700s before grammar books attacked it, and the "never split an infinitive" rule (no word between "to" and the verb, as in Star Trek's "to boldly go") was copied from Latin in the 1800s; most modern guides say "to boldly go" is fine. # source = school lesson (ours) # course = language # lesson = 020-is-there-one-proper-english.lesson # annotation = Mova annot: Rust (en) → Haiku 5.5 (medium, Batches API) patches; gates UD 2.18; agreed by treeagree rules (Stanza, Trankit, spaCy trf): R5-strong ×3, R6-punct-agree ×5, R7-rel-agree ×2 1 Many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 2 " " PUNCT `` _ 3 punct _ _ 3 rules rule NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nsubj _ _ 4 " " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ 5 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 6 younger young ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 79 parataxis _ _ 7 than than SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 8 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 9 'd would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 10 aux _ _ 10 think think VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 advcl _ _ 11 : : PUNCT : _ 17 punct _ _ 12 " " PUNCT `` _ 13 punct _ Agree=R6-punct-agree|Haiku=14:punct 13 ai ai X FW Foreign=Yes 14 dep _ _ 14 n't not PART RB Polarity=Neg 17 advmod _ _ 15 " " PUNCT '' _ 14 punct _ _ 16 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 aux:pass _ _ 17 used use VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 10 ccomp _ _ 18 by by ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 posh posh ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obl:agent _ _ 21 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 1700s 1700 NOUN NNS Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card 17 obl _ Agree=R5-strong|Haiku=27:obl 24 before before SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 25 grammar grammar NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 compound _ _ 26 books book NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nsubj _ _ 27 attacked attack VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 advcl _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obj _ _ 29 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 32 " " PUNCT `` _ 34 punct _ _ 33 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 34 advmod _ _ 34 split split VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 compound _ _ 35 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 infinitive infinitive NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 37 " " PUNCT '' _ 34 punct _ _ 38 rule rule NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 nsubj:pass _ _ 39 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 41 punct _ _ 40 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 41 det _ _ 41 word word NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 appos _ _ 42 between between ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 " " PUNCT `` _ 44 punct _ Agree=R6-punct-agree|Haiku=45:punct 44 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 45 " " PUNCT '' _ 41 punct _ _ 46 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 verb verb NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 conj _ _ 49 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ Agree=R6-punct-agree|Haiku=58:punct 50 as as SCONJ IN _ 58 mark _ _ 51 in in ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 52 Star Star PROPN NNP Number=Sing 58 nsubj _ _ 53 Trek Trek PROPN NNP Number=Sing 52 flat _ _ 54 's 's PART POS _ 53 case _ Agree=R5-strong|Haiku=52:case 55 " " PUNCT `` _ 58 punct _ _ 56 to to PART TO _ 58 mark _ Agree=R7-rel-agree|Haiku=58:case|HaikuPos=ADP:IN:_ 57 boldly boldly ADV RB Degree=Pos 58 advmod _ _ 58 go go NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 appos _ _ 59 " " PUNCT '' _ 58 punct _ _ 60 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 41 punct _ _ 61 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 62 aux:pass _ _ 62 copied copy VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 17 conj _ _ 63 from from ADP IN _ 64 case _ _ 64 Latin Latin PROPN NNP Number=Sing 62 obl _ _ 65 in in ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 66 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 67 det _ _ 67 1800s 1800 NOUN NNS Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card 62 obl _ _ 68 ; ; PUNCT , _ 72 punct _ _ 69 most most ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 71 amod _ Agree=R5-strong|Haiku=70:advmod|HaikuPos=ADV:RBS:Degree=Sup 70 modern modern ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 71 amod _ _ 71 guides guide NOUN NNS Number=Plur 72 nsubj _ _ 72 say say VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 79 parataxis _ _ 73 " " PUNCT `` _ 76 punct _ Agree=R6-punct-agree|Haiku=72:punct|HaikuPos=PUNCT:'':_ 74 to to PART TO _ 76 mark _ Agree=R7-rel-agree|Haiku=76:case|HaikuPos=ADP:IN:_ 75 boldly boldly ADV RB Degree=Pos 76 advmod _ _ 76 go go NOUN NN Number=Sing 79 obl _ _ 77 " " PUNCT '' _ 76 punct _ _ 78 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 79 cop _ _ 79 fine fine ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 80 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ Agree=R6-punct-agree|Haiku=79:punct ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} No stored speech act for this sentence. | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | present | Many rules | | | | | young *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **think** *speech: other* | would | you | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 3 | **not** **use** | past · passive | posh people | | | the 1700s | | | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **attack** | past | grammar books | standard | | | | | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient | | 5 | **not** **split** *in a quote* | infinitive | | a infinitive | | | | | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent infinitive=Patient | | 6 | **go** *in a quote* | | Star | | | | | boldly *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **copy** | past · passive | | the split rule | | Latin | | in the 1800s | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in 1800=Destination | | 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | most modern guides | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **is** | present | | | | | | go *obl*; fine *property* | tree rules | 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. **Licence: [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)**, as the whole of Mova corpus 0.4, of which this treebank (the agreed school, `mova-school-agreed-en.conllu`) is part. The lessons were written for Mova's primary school. Sentence `school:language:020-is-there-one-proper-english.lesson:2`. **The tree:** Mova annot: Rust (en) → Haiku 5.5 (medium, Batches API) patches; gates UD 2.18; agreed by treeagree rules (Stanza, Trankit, spaCy trf): R5-strong ×3, R6-punct-agree ×5, R7-rel-agree ×2. **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the lesson read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence. See the [release 0.4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/releases/0.4/). - ← previous: [Is there one proper English? The big a…, 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/20-is-there-one-proper-english/1/) - next →: [Is there one proper English? The big a…, 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/20-is-there-one-proper-english/3/) - ↑ back to [the lesson](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/20-is-there-one-proper-english/)