---
title: A boy in Sydney leans over and blows out his friend's candles first… — Birthday parties · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy in Sydney leans over and blows out his friend's candles first as a joke. Why is that wrong? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 130 «Birthday parties» 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 5 · ★ · Birthday parties

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy in Sydney leans over and blows out his friend's candles first as a joke. Why is that wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** boy, that · **What happens:** lean over, blow out, be · **To what, where:** candles

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 130 «Birthday parties» 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/130-birthday-parties/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy in Sydney leans over and blows out his friend's candles first as a joke.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:130-birthday-parties:t5:1
# text = A boy in Sydney leans over and blows out his friend's candles first as a joke.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Sydney	Sydney	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	leans	lean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	over	over	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	blows	blow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
9	out	out	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	candles	candle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
14	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	advmod	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lean over** | present | a boy in Sydney |  |  |  |  | over *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **blow out** | present | a boy in Sydney *not said here* | boy's friend's candles |  |  |  | as a joke; first *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent candle=Patient |

<!-- .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 that wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:130-birthday-parties:t5:2
# text = Why is that wrong?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
4	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Candles must only be blown out by adults

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:130-birthday-parties:t5:o1:1
# text = Candles must only be blown out by adults
1	Candles	candle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	blown	blow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	adults	adult	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blow out** | must · passive | adults | Candles |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cake will taste worse

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:130-birthday-parties:t5:o2:1
# text = The cake will taste worse
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cake	cake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	taste	taste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **taste** | future | the cake |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes the candles harder to light again

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:130-birthday-parties:t5:o3:1
# text = It makes the candles harder to light again
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	candles	candle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	light	light	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	again	again	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It | the candles |  |  | again | hard *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material candle=Product |
| 2 | **light** | to-infinitive | the candles *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is the birthday child's special moment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:130-birthday-parties:t5:o4:1
# text = It is the birthday child's special moment
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	birthday	birthday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	special	special	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | the birthday child's special moment |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Birthday parties, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/130-birthday-parties/t4/)
- next →: [Birthday parties, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/130-birthday-parties/t6/)
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