---
title: Why is a babysitter told never to shake a crying baby? — Babies, button batteries and magnets · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is a babysitter told never to shake a crying baby? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 113 «Babies, button batteries and magnets» of the everyday 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 · ★ · Babies, button batteries and magnets

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is a babysitter told never to shake a crying baby?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** babysitter · **What happens:** be, tell, not shake, cry · **To what, where:** babysitter, crying baby · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 113 «Babies, button batteries and magnets» of the everyday 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/everyday/113-babies-batteries-and-magnets/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:113-babies-batteries-and-magnets:t4:1
# text = Why is a babysitter told never to shake a crying baby?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	babysitter	babysitter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	shake	shake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	amod	_	_
11	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a babysitter |  |  |  |  | why *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | participle |  | a babysitter *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **shake** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a babysitter *not said here* | a crying baby |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent baby=Patient |
| 4 | **cry** *speech: express* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A baby's brain can be badly hurt by shaking

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:113-babies-batteries-and-magnets:t4:o1:1
# text = A baby's brain can be badly hurt by shaking
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	brain	brain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
7	badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
8	hurt	hurt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	shaking	shaking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hurt** | can · passive | shaking | a baby's brain |  |  |  | badly *property* | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Shaking makes the baby forget its parents

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:113-babies-batteries-and-magnets:t4:o2:1
# text = Shaking makes the baby forget its parents
1	Shaking	shake	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	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	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	forget	forget	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shake** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **make** | present |  | the baby |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **forget** | infinitive | the baby *not said here* | baby's parents |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Shaking only works to calm older babies, not newborns

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:113-babies-batteries-and-magnets:t4:o3:1
# text = Shaking only works to calm older babies, not newborns
1	Shaking	shake	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	calm	calm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
6	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
7	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	newborns	newborn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shake** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **work** | present |  | newborns |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **calm** | to-infinitive |  | older babies |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus baby=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes the baby too tired to eat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:113-babies-batteries-and-magnets:t4:o4:1
# text = It makes the baby too tired to eat
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	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It | the baby |  |  |  | tired *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material baby=Product |
| 2 | **eat** | to-infinitive | the baby *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «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.

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- ← previous: [Babies, button batteries and magnets, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/113-babies-batteries-and-magnets/t3/)
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