---
title: Why is a surprise party secret okay but a secret an adult says to ke… — White lies and kind silence · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is a surprise party secret okay but a secret an adult says to keep forever is not? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 196 «White lies and kind silence» 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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# Test 3 · ★ · White lies and kind silence

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is a surprise party secret okay but a secret an adult says to keep forever is not?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** surprise party, secret · **What happens:** be, say, keep · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 196 «White lies and kind silence» 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/196-white-lies-and-kind-silence/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:196-white-lies-and-kind-silence:t3:1
# text = Why is a surprise party secret okay but a secret an adult says to keep forever is not?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	okay	okay	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	adult	adult	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	forever	forever	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a surprise party |  |  |  |  | okay *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a secret |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **keep** | to-infinitive | a secret *not said here* |  |  |  |  | forever *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A surprise ends soon and makes someone happy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:196-white-lies-and-kind-silence:t3:o1:1
# text = A surprise ends soon and makes someone happy
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ends	end	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obj	_	_
8	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end** | present | a surprise |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **make** | present | a surprise *not said here* | someone |  |  |  | happy *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset someone=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Party secrets are short and all others are long

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:196-white-lies-and-kind-silence:t3:o2:1
# text = Party secrets are short and all others are long
1	Party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	secrets	secret	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Party secrets |  |  |  |  | short *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | all others |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Adults are never allowed to keep any secrets at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:196-white-lies-and-kind-silence:t3:o3:1
# text = Adults are never allowed to keep any secrets at all
1	Adults	adult	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	secrets	secret	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **allow** | present · passive |  | Adults |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **keep** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Adults *not said here* | any secrets |  | all |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent secret=Theme at all=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Any secret at all is fine if it is about a party

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:196-white-lies-and-kind-silence:t3:o4:1
# text = Any secret at all is fine if it is about a party
1	Any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	det	_	_
2	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	nmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	about	about	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | any secret at all |  |  |  |  | fine *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | secret |  |  |  |  | about a party | 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.

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- ← previous: [White lies and kind silence, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/196-white-lies-and-kind-silence/t2/)
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