---
title: Identify the principal reason why talking or laughing with food in t… — Excuse me, and good manners at the table · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason why talking or laughing with food in the mouth is discouraged. Exam question 3 of lesson 127 «Excuse me, and good manners at the table» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's ch
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/127-excuse-me-and-table-manners/e3/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/) / [Excuse me, and good manners at the table](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/127-excuse-me-and-table-manners/) / e3

# Exam question 3 · Excuse me, and good manners at the table

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason why talking or laughing with food in the mouth is discouraged.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, talking · **What happens:** identify, talk, laugh, be · **To what, where:** principal reason

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 127 «Excuse me, and good manners at the table» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/127-excuse-me-and-table-manners/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:127-excuse-me-and-table-manners:e3:1
# text = Identify the principal reason why talking or laughing with food in the mouth is discouraged.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
6	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	csubj	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	laughing	laugh	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	conj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	discouraged	discouraged	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **talk** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **laugh** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with food in the mouth | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | present | talking |  |  |  |  | discouraged *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
It makes the food lose its taste

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:127-excuse-me-and-table-manners:e3:o1:1
# text = It makes the food lose its taste
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	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	lose	lose	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	taste	taste	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It | the food |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lose** | infinitive | the food *not said here* | food's taste |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent taste=Eventuality |
| 3 | **taste** |  | food |  |  |  |  |  | nom taste «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It causes the food to grow cold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:127-excuse-me-and-table-manners:e3:o2:1
# text = It causes the food to grow cold
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	causes	cause	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	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
7	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | present | It | the food |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition food=Patient |
| 2 | **grow** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | cold *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It raises the chance of choking

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:127-excuse-me-and-table-manners:e3:o3:1
# text = It raises the chance of choking
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	raises	raise	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	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	choking	choking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **raise** | present | It | the chance of choking |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chance=Theme |
| 2 | **chance** |  | choking |  |  |  |  |  | nom chance «state intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes the meal last much longer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:127-excuse-me-and-table-manners:e3:o4:1
# text = It makes the meal last much longer
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	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	last	last	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	xcomp	_	_
6	much	much	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It | the meal |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **last** | present | the meal *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Excuse me, and good manners at the table, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/127-excuse-me-and-table-manners/e2/)
- next →: [Excuse me, and good manners at the table, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/127-excuse-me-and-table-manners/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Excuse me, and good manners at the table](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/127-excuse-me-and-table-manners/)