---
title: What would happen if every story in your class began "Once upon a ti… — Openings that hook the reader · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if every story in your class began "Once upon a time"? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 40 «Openings that hook the reader» of the English 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 4 · ★ · Openings that hook the reader

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if every story in your class began "Once upon a time"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** story · **What happens:** happen, begin

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 40 «Openings that hook the reader» 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/40-openings-that-hook-the-reader/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:40-openings-that-hook-the-reader:t4:1
# text = What would happen if every story in your class began "Once upon a time"?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	class	class	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	10	advmod	_	_
13	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **begin** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | every story in your class |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The stories would hook every reader much more

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:40-openings-that-hook-the-reader:t4:o1:1
# text = The stories would hook every reader much more
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	hook	hook	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	reader	reader	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	much	much	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hook** | would | the stories | every reader |  |  |  |  | vn rotate-51.9.1-1 «NP V NP.extent»: agent=Theme reader=Extent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Every single story would turn into a fairy tale

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:40-openings-that-hook-the-reader:t4:o2:1
# text = Every single story would turn into a fairy tale
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	det	_	_
2	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would | every single story |  |  | a fairy tale |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme into tale=Trajectory |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The openings would all feel the same and dull

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:40-openings-that-hook-the-reader:t4:o3:1
# text = The openings would all feel the same and dull
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	openings	opening	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	all	all	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	dull	dull	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | would | the openings | the same |  |  |  | all *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent same=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, because openings never matter at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:40-openings-that-hook-the-reader:t4:o4:1
# text = Nothing, because openings never matter at all
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	openings	opening	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	matter	matter	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **matter** | present | openings |  |  | all |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=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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- ← previous: [Openings that hook the reader, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/40-openings-that-hook-the-reader/t3/)
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