---
title: Why do many families keep phones and tablets away from dinner? — Excuse me, and good manners at the table · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do many families keep phones and tablets away from dinner? Test 4 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 choice was right.
---

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# Test 4 · Excuse me, and good manners at the table

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do many families keep phones and tablets away from dinner?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** many families · **What happens:** keep · **To what, where:** phones

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 of lesson 127 «Excuse me, and good manners at the table» 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/127-excuse-me-and-table-manners/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:127-excuse-me-and-table-manners:t4:1
# text = Why do many families keep phones and tablets away from dinner?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	phones	phone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	tablets	tablet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
9	away	away	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present · do-support | many families | phones and tablets |  |  |  | away *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent phone=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Meals are a time to talk with each other

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:127-excuse-me-and-table-manners:t4:o1:1
# text = Meals are a time to talk with each other
1	Meals	meal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	6	obl	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Meals | a time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **talk** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | with each | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with each=Co-Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because food makes screens break

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:127-excuse-me-and-table-manners:t4:o2:1
# text = Because food makes screens break
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
4	screens	screen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	break	break	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | food | screens |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material screen=Product |
| 2 | **break** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because phones cannot work in the kitchen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:127-excuse-me-and-table-manners:t4:o3:1
# text = Because phones cannot work in the kitchen
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	phones	phone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **work** | can | phones |  |  |  |  | in the kitchen | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in kitchen=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because games are only allowed at breakfast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:127-excuse-me-and-table-manners:t4:o4:1
# text = Because games are only allowed at breakfast
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	games	game	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	breakfast	breakfast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **allow** | present · passive |  | games |  | breakfast |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary |

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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: [Excuse me, and good manners at the table, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/127-excuse-me-and-table-manners/t3/)
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