---
title: An American walking past your classroom says "How's it going?" Why i… — Handshakes, waves and greetings around… · tree and pragmatics
description: An American walking past your classroom says "How's it going?" Why is a short answer right? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 124 «Handshakes, waves and greetings around the world» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's 
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Handshakes, waves and greetings around the world

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An American walking past your classroom says "How's it going?" Why is a short answer right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** American walking, walking · **What happens:** say, go, be · **To what, where:** short answer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 124 «Handshakes, waves and greetings around the world» 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/124-handshakes-waves-and-local-customs/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* An American walking past your classroom says "How's it going?"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:124-handshakes-waves-and-local-customs:t7:1
# text = An American walking past your classroom says "How's it going?"
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	walking	walking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	past	past	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	classroom	classroom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | present | a American walking past your classroom |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** *in a quote* | present · progressive | walking |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 is a short answer right?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:124-handshakes-waves-and-local-customs:t7:2
# text = Why is a short answer right?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	right	right	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | a short answer |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because Americans do not like long answers about anything

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:124-handshakes-waves-and-local-customs:t7:o1:1
# text = Because Americans do not like long answers about anything
1	Because	because	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	2	case	_	_
2	Americans	American	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
3	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	like	like	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	answers	answer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **like** | present · do-support |  | long answers |  |  |  | because Americans; about anything | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot answer=Theme |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a greeting, not a real question

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:124-handshakes-waves-and-local-customs:t7:o2:1
# text = It is a greeting, not a real question
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	greeting	greeting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a greeting and a real question |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because long answers are only for the phone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:124-handshakes-waves-and-local-customs:t7:o3:1
# text = Because long answers are only for the phone
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
2	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	answers	answer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	phone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | long answers |  |  |  |  | for the phone | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because you must never talk to Americans

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:124-handshakes-waves-and-local-customs:t7:o4:1
# text = Because you must never talk to Americans
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Americans	American	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **talk** | must | you |  | Americans |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to american=Co-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: [Handshakes, waves and greetings around…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/124-handshakes-waves-and-local-customs/t6/)
- next →: [Handshakes, waves and greetings around…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/124-handshakes-waves-and-local-customs/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Handshakes, waves and greetings around the world](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/124-handshakes-waves-and-local-customs/)