Test 9 · ★★★ · When a friend's mum or dad dies: what to say and do

Callum's brother says, «Asking about the body is fine, everyone wants to know, innit.» What is the most thoughtful reply?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: brother, Asking, everyone, thoughtful reply · What happens: say, ask, be, want, know, innit · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 61 «When a friend's mum or dad dies: what to say and do» of the religion ethics 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.

The question

Sentence 1: Callum's brother says, «Asking about the body is fine, everyone wants to know, innit.»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Callum	Callum	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 brother	nmod:poss
2	's	's	PART	_	1 Callum	case
3	brother	brother	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 says	nsubj
4	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 Asking	punct
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 Asking	punct
7	Asking	ask	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 fine	csubj
8	about	about	ADP	_	10 body	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 body	det
10	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 Asking	obl
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 fine	cop
12	fine	fine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 says	ccomp
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 wants	punct
14	everyone	everyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	15 wants	nsubj
15	wants	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 fine	parataxis
16	to	to	PART	_	17 know	mark
17	know	know	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 wants	xcomp
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 innit	punct
19	innit	innit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 know	conj
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	12 fine	punct
21	»	»	PUNCT	_	4 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	Callum's brother		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	ask speech: ask in a quote	gerund		about the body	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V PP.topic whether S»: agent=Agent about body=Topic
3	is in a quote	present	Asking	fine property	tree rules
4	want in a quote	present	everyone		vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
5	know not said to happen, in a quote	to-infinitive	everyone not said here		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
6	innit in a quote	infinitive	everyone not said here		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.

Sentence 2: What is the most thoughtful reply?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 What	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 reply	det
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 thoughtful	advmod
5	thoughtful	thoughtful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 reply	amod
6	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
7	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the thoughtful reply						tree rules

The options

Option 1

Ask the teacher for photographs of the body instead of asking the friend

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ask	ask	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 teacher	det
3	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ask	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 photographs	case
5	photographs	photograph	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Ask	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 body	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 body	det
8	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 photographs	nmod
9	instead	instead	ADV	ExtPos=SCONJ	11 asking	mark
10	of	of	ADP	_	9 instead	fixed
11	asking	ask	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Ask	advcl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 friend	det
13	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 asking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	imperative	you not said here		the teacher			for photographs of the body	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent teacher=Recipient
2	ask speech: ask	gerund	you not said here		the friend				vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent friend=Recipient

Option 2

Never speak to a grieving friend at all, about anything

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	2 speak	advmod
2	speak	speak	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	6 friend	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 friend	det
5	grieving	grieve	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 friend	amod
6	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 speak	obl
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 all	case
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 speak	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 anything	punct
10	about	about	ADP	_	11 anything	case
11	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	2 speak	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not speak speech: other	imperative	you not said here			all		to a grieving friend; about anything	vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent PP.topic»: agent=Agent to friend=Co-Agent about anything=Topic
2	grieve	gerund							vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

He's right; always ask for all the details, everyone wants them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 right	nsubj
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 right	cop
3	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	;	;	PUNCT	_	6 ask	punct
5	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	6 ask	advmod
6	ask	ask	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 right	conj
7	for	for	ADP	_	10 details	case
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	10 details	det:predet
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 details	det
10	details	detail	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 ask	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 wants	punct
12	everyone	everyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	13 wants	nsubj
13	wants	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 right	advcl
14	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 wants	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	He		right property	tree rules
2	ask speech: ask	infinitive	He not said here		for all details; always property	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	want	present	everyone	details = detail		vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot they=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Curiosity is natural, but let the grieving friend choose what to share

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Curiosity	curiosity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 natural	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 natural	cop
3	natural	natural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 let	punct
5	but	but	CCONJ	_	6 let	cc
6	let	let	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	3 natural	parataxis
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 friend	det
8	grieving	grieve	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 friend	amod
9	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 let	obj
10	choose	choose	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 let	xcomp
11	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	13 share	obj
12	to	to	PART	_	13 share	mark
13	share	share	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 choose	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	Curiosity		natural property	tree rules
2	let	infinitive		the grieving friend		tree rules
3	grieve	gerund				vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
4	choose	infinitive	the grieving friend not said here			tree rules
5	share	to-infinitive	the grieving friend not said here			tree rules

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/61-when-a-friends-mum-or-dad-dies-what-to-say-and-do/t9/