The only child: all the attention and wanting a sibling

Tests: 2 of 10 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 11 of 14 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 499 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«only kids get loads of presents so they're always happy lol». What does Dougal show?

1. Only kids get fewer presents than other kids — ← Mova's choice · score 6
2. Christmas is exactly the same for every family — no support
3. More presents can still mean no one to play with — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Presents always make only kids totally happy — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 439, line 1: «Some kids in Year 5 told Callum there was a party at the park on Saturday. He went, with a present. Nobody came — they had made it up to laugh at him. Callum w…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «kids» (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same thing acted on «present» (+1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«my mum said they couldn't have more babies, is it cos of me?». What is true?

1. Yes, if you were a naughty baby — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yes, kids stop babies coming — no support
3. Only if you asked for a sibling — no support
4. No, it isn't the child's fault — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«Lachlan's spoilt rotten, he's got every console». What changed the picture?

1. He sold every console he had to buy a scooter — no support
2. He started bragging even more at school — no support
3. He hid the consoles under his bed from his mates — ← Mova's choice · score 2
4. He shared, and sharing is the opposite of spoilt — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 416, line 3: «Some tricks were almost funny. A player in Roblox chat wrote to Ruby: «I'll give you 1000 free Robux if you send me yours first.» Ruby laughed out loud: «If yo…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗

What would probably happen if Nadia told her parents calmly that the checking feels like no trust?

1. They would stop helping her with anything — ← Mova's choice · score 2
2. They would check twice as often from then on — score 2
3. They would never speak to her ever again — score -1
4. They might agree to a deal, like Fridays — ✓ the right answer · score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 2, tied with another option at 2 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 376, line 13: «Even the child who is picked on costs the family time, because parents must go to meetings to stop it.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «stop» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Brody's mate says, «Your parents only had you 'cos they couldn't have more». What does the lesson say?

1. Every family with one child wanted more and couldn't have them — ← Mova's choice · score 9
2. Brody should ask until his parents give him a brother — score 6
3. Parents with one child always secretly wish they had five — score 5
4. Some parents choose one child, and that is a complete family — ✓ the right answer · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 9, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 496, line 3: «Some families have one warm parent and one cold or harsh one. In Bristol, Marisol shows her horse drawing. Mum says, «Lush!» (Bristol and Welsh for «lovely»).…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «families» (+3); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same thing acted on «one warm parent» (+1). The right option, 4, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«Celestine talks like a lawyer so she can't have fun». What's true?

1. Kids who talk like adults can never join a pillow fight — score 4
2. Celestine should be told off for using big words at all — no support
3. Only children never go on sleepovers with other kids — ← Mova's choice · score 6
4. Only children may talk grown-up and still need silly time — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 489, line 8: «Friends mostly care about having fun together, not about the sofa or the size of the house.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «friends» (+3); the same circumstance (+3). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · right ✓

In a film, an only child has to look after a lonely mum and never sees friends, and it's shown as normal. What does the lesson say?

1. Friends are only for big families — score 5
2. Mums don't like company anyway — score 6
3. That is exactly how it should be — no support
4. A child needs friends his age too — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 9, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 284, line 4: «Dares are a kind of pressure trick: they make you feel you must prove something. You don't. Example: friends in Brisbane dare a boy to run across the road befo…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «real friend» (+3); the same action «want» (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same thing acted on «boy» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Ngaio's family plays cards for 30 minutes every night. Her mate's family has 6 kids and the parents have 30 minutes a night to share equally among them. How many minutes a week does each of her mate's siblings get?

1. 5 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 35 — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. 30 — no support
4. 210 — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Pip's 3 cousins stay 7 nights and everyone, Pip included, has chips every night. One portion each per night. How many portions in the week?

1. 7 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 24 — no support
3. 21 — no support
4. 28 — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · right ✓

«Pip loved the noise then liked the quiet, so she's fake». What is true?

1. She must choose one and stick to it — no support
2. She secretly hated her cousins — no support
3. Liking both noise and quiet is normal — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. She lied about the water fights — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 499, line 5: «In Harrogate, Yorkshire, Pip's three cousins stay for a week of summer: water fights, bunk beds, chips every night, absolute chaos. «It's mint!» says Pip (Nort…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «like» (+3); the same thing acted on «noise» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the attention afforded to an only child?

1. It is invariably insufficient owing to the parents' preoccupations — ← Mova's choice · score 8
2. It is of no consequence to the child's feelings whatsoever — no support
3. It is undivided, which may prove both agreeable and burdensome — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. It is, by statute, equal to that afforded to children of large families — score 7

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 8, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 320, line 24: «If an older teenager or an adult gives a young child big presents or calls themselves her «boyfriend», that is a worry to tell a trusted adult about.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); a different action (counts against) (+3); the same doer «trusted adult» (+2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

It is given that parents desired further children but none were born. Identify the correct characterisation of this circumstance.

1. A matter which the child is obliged to raise with the parents daily — ← Mova's choice · score 3
2. A consequence of the child having requested a sibling at Christmas — no support
3. A private and often sorrowful matter for which the child bears no blame — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. A circumstance arising solely from the parents' choice of country — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 496, line 4: «Sometimes the row is about you. In Liverpool, Joe hears, «You always let him off!» «And you're too hard on him, you!» He feels like he's the problem. He isn't:…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+3); the same action «bring up» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning possessions and the character of being spoilt.

1. Generosity in sharing is evidence of a spoilt character — no support
2. The possession of several consoles establishes that a child is spoilt — no support
3. An only child is by definition spoilt irrespective of conduct — no support
4. The possession of many things is not equivalent to being spoilt — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 401, line 2: «It was gorier than any of them expected. Leo announced he had «seen all the fatalities already, they're nothing» — and then watched the whole thing through his…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «own» (+2); the same thing acted on «racing game» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓

Whereas a parent living alone seeks the constant companionship of an only son, state the conduct the lesson recommends.

1. To relinquish all friendships in order to accompany the parent — no support
2. To inform the parent kindly that he wishes also to see friends of his age — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. To request that the parent cease to visit the shops altogether — no support
4. To absent himself without informing the parent of his whereabouts — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 499, line 1: «With one child, all the parents' attention lands on one person: lovely, and sometimes heavy. In Bangor, North Wales, both Mum and Dad come to every one of Beth…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «parents» (+3); the same action «wish» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/everyday/499-the-only-child-all-the-attention-and-wanting-a-sibling/