---
title: In a cartoon, a hero is good at everything and never changes. Why do… — Reading a story: characters, plot and… · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon, a hero is good at everything and never changes. Why do many good stories let characters change? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 22 «Reading a story: characters, plot and setting» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each op
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Reading a story: characters, plot and setting

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon, a hero is good at everything and never changes. Why do many good stories let characters change?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** hero, many good stories, characters · **What happens:** be, not change, do, let, change · **To what, where:** cartoon, characters

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 22 «Reading a story: characters, plot and setting» of the English 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/english/22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon, a hero is good at everything and never changes.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting:t7:1
# text = In a cartoon, a hero is good at everything and never changes.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	hero	hero	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	8	obl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	changes	change	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a hero |  |  | a cartoon |  | at everything; good *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **change** | present | a hero *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «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 do many good stories let characters change?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting:t7:2
# text = Why do many good stories let characters change?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
3	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	let	let	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	characters	character	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
8	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present | many good stories *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **let** | present | many good stories | characters |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **change** | infinitive | characters *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Readers hate characters who change

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting:t7:o1:1
# text = Readers hate characters who change
1	Readers	reader	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hate	hate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	characters	character	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hate** | present | Readers | characters |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer character=Stimulus |
| 2 | **change** | present | characters |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Changing characters is against the rules

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting:t7:o2:1
# text = Changing characters is against the rules
1	Changing	change	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	csubj	_	_
2	characters	character	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	against	against	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | gerund |  | characters |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent character=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | present | Changing |  |  |  |  | against the rules | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes the book shorter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting:t7:o3:1
# text = It makes the book shorter
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	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	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	shorter	short	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It | the book |  |  |  | short *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material book=Product |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It shows they learned something from the problem

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting:t7:o4:1
# text = It shows they learned something from the problem
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	learned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	problem	problem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **learn** | past | they | something |  | the problem |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent something=Topic from problem=Source |

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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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- ← previous: [Reading a story: characters, plot and…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting/t6/)
- next →: [Reading a story: characters, plot and…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Reading a story: characters, plot and setting](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting/)