---
title: Your mate dials 999 "for a laugh" and hangs up. Why is that serious? — Police, courts and prison · tree and pragmatics
description: Your mate dials 999 "for a laugh" and hangs up. Why is that serious? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 30 «Police, courts and prison» of the adult life 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 2 · ★ · Police, courts and prison

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your mate dials 999 "for a laugh" and hangs up. Why is that serious?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** mate · **What happens:** dial, hang up, be · **To what, where:** 999

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 30 «Police, courts and prison» of the adult life 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/adult-life/30-police-courts-and-prison/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your mate dials 999 "for a laugh" and hangs up.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:30-police-courts-and-prison:t2:1
# text = Your mate dials 999 "for a laugh" and hangs up.
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	dials	dial	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	999	999	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	obj	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	laugh	laugh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	hangs	hang	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	up	up	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dial** | present | Your mate | 999 |  |  |  | for a laugh | tree rules |
| 2 | **hang up** | present | Your mate *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:* Why is that serious?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:30-police-courts-and-prison:t2:2
# text = Why is that serious?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	serious	serious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It costs the police lots of petrol

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:30-police-courts-and-prison:t2:o1:1
# text = It costs the police lots of petrol
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	costs	cost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	police	police	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	compound	_	_
5	lots	lot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	petrol	petrol	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cost** | present | It | the police lots of petrol |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme lot=Value |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It blocks the line for people in real danger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:30-police-courts-and-prison:t2:o2:1
# text = It blocks the line for people in real danger
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	blocks	block	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	line	line	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **block** | present | It | the line |  |  |  | for people in real danger | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer line=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is only serious after midnight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:30-police-courts-and-prison:t2:o3:1
# text = It is only serious after midnight
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	serious	serious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	after	after	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  | midnight | serious *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is fine as long as you hang up fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:30-police-courts-and-prison:t2:o4:1
# text = It is fine as long as you hang up fast
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	expl	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	hang	hang	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
9	up	up	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | fine, long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hang up** | present | you |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ← previous: [Police, courts and prison, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/30-police-courts-and-prison/t1/)
- next →: [Police, courts and prison, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/30-police-courts-and-prison/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Police, courts and prison](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/30-police-courts-and-prison/)