---
title: In a cartoon, a newspaper headline says «MAN BITES DOG!» and everyon… — Persuasive letters, newspaper articles… · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon, a newspaper headline says «MAN BITES DOG!» and everyone believes it at once. What should a careful reader do? Test 7 · ★★ of lesson 24 «Persuasive letters, newspaper articles and diaries» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the que
---

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# Test 7 · ★★ · Persuasive letters, newspaper articles and diaries

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon, a newspaper headline says «MAN BITES DOG!» and everyone believes it at once. What should a careful reader do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** newspaper headline, MAN, everyone, careful reader · **What happens:** say, bite, believe, do · **To what, where:** cartoon, DOG · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★★ of lesson 24 «Persuasive letters, newspaper articles and diaries» 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/24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon, a newspaper headline says «MAN BITES DOG!» and everyone believes it at once.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries:t7:1
# text = In a cartoon, a newspaper headline says «MAN BITES DOG!» and everyone believes it at once.
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	7	det	_	_
6	newspaper	newspaper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	headline	headline	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	MAN	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	BITES	bite	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
12	DOG	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	17	nsubj	_	_
17	believes	believe	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: express* | present | a newspaper headline |  |  | a cartoon |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **bite** *in a quote* | present | MAN | DOG |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Patient |
| 3 | **believe** | present | everyone | DOG |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

<!-- .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:* What should a careful reader do?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries:t7:2
# text = What should a careful reader do?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	reader	reader	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | should | a careful reader |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only read the photos and the captions under them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries:t7:o1:1
# text = Only read the photos and the captions under them
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	read	read	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	photos	photo	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	captions	caption	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
8	under	under	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | imperative | you *not said here* | the photos and the captions |  |  |  | under captions *= caption* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent photo=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ignore all newspapers forever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries:t7:o2:1
# text = Ignore all newspapers forever
1	Ignore	ignore	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	det	_	_
3	newspapers	newspaper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	forever	forever	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ignore** | imperative | you *not said here* | all newspapers |  |  |  | forever *property* | vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent newspaper=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Read the article and check other reports

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries:t7:o3:1
# text = Read the article and check other reports
1	Read	read	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	article	article	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	check	check	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
6	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	reports	report	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | imperative | you *not said here* | the article |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent article=Topic |
| 2 | **check** | infinitive | you *not said here* | other reports |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent report=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Believe all headlines

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries:t7:o4:1
# text = Believe all headlines
1	Believe	believe	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	det	_	_
3	headlines	headline	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **believe** | imperative | you *not said here* | all headlines |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer headline=Stimulus |

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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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