---
title: Identify the most common reason for which people tell lies. — Why people lie, and what is not a lie · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the most common reason for which people tell lies. Exam question 2 of lesson 195 «Why people lie, and what is not a lie» 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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# Exam question 2 · Why people lie, and what is not a lie

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the most common reason for which people tell lies.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, people · **What happens:** identify, tell · **To what, where:** common reason, lies · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 195 «Why people lie, and what is not a lie» 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/195-why-people-lie/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:195-why-people-lie:e2:1
# text = Identify the most common reason for which people tell lies.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	4	advmod	_	_
4	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obl	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	lies	lie	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	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 common reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | people | lies |  |  |  | for the common reason | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent lie=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
A habit of telling stories

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:195-why-people-lie:e2:o1:1
# text = A habit of telling stories
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	habit	habit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund | a habit *not said here* | stories |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A wish to make others happy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:195-why-people-lie:e2:o2:1
# text = A wish to make others happy
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | to-infinitive | a wish | others |  |  |  | happy *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset other=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Boredom during the day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:195-why-people-lie:e2:o3:1
# text = Boredom during the day
1	Boredom	boredom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	during	during	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fear of being punished

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:195-why-people-lie:e2:o4:1
# text = Fear of being punished
1	Fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	punished	punish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **punish** | gerund · passive |  | Fear *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP» |

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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: [Why people lie, and what is not a lie, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/195-why-people-lie/e1/)
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