---
title: Identify the principal purpose of a petition. — Bad news, protests and helping others · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal purpose of a petition. Exam question 2 of lesson 32 «Bad news, protests and helping others» 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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# Exam question 2 · Bad news, protests and helping others

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal purpose of a petition.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, petition · **What happens:** identify, purpose · **To what, where:** principal purpose

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 32 «Bad news, protests and helping others» of the adult life course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/32-bad-news-protests-and-helping-others/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:32-bad-news-protests-and-helping-others:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal purpose of a petition.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	petition	petition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal purpose of a petition |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent purpose=Theme |
| 2 | **purpose** |  | a petition |  |  |  |  |  | nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To impose a new law without any further deliberation

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:32-bad-news-protests-and-helping-others:e2:o1:1
# text = To impose a new law without any further deliberation
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	impose	impose	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	without	without	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
8	further	further	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	deliberation	deliberation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **impose** | to-infinitive |  | a new law |  |  |  | without any further deliberation | vn enforce-63 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent law=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To collect funds on behalf of a registered charity

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:32-bad-news-protests-and-helping-others:e2:o2:1
# text = To collect funds on behalf of a registered charity
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	collect	collect	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	funds	fund	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	behalf	behalf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	registered	register	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	charity	charity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **collect** | to-infinitive |  | funds |  | behalf of a registered charity |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fund=Theme |
| 2 | **register** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To demonstrate the number of persons requesting a particular change

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:32-bad-news-protests-and-helping-others:e2:o3:1
# text = To demonstrate the number of persons requesting a particular change
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	demonstrate	demonstrate	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	requesting	request	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	particular	particular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **demonstrate** | to-infinitive |  | the number of persons |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot number=Topic |
| 2 | **request** | gerund | persons *not said here* | a particular change |  |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent change=Recipient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To record the votes cast at a general election

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:32-bad-news-protests-and-helping-others:e2:o4:1
# text = To record the votes cast at a general election
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	record	record	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	votes	vote	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	cast	cast	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	general	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	election	election	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **record** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **cast** | present | the votes |  |  | a general election |  |  | vn throw-17.1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent at election=Destination |

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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.

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