---
title: A classmate keeps asking why your parents live apart. What can you h… — White lies and kind silence · tree and pragmatics
description: A classmate keeps asking why your parents live apart. What can you honestly do? Test 6 · ★ 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/196-white-lies-and-kind-silence/t6/)

<!-- 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/) / [White lies and kind silence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/196-white-lies-and-kind-silence/) / t6

# Test 6 · ★ · White lies and kind silence

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A classmate keeps asking why your parents live apart. What can you honestly do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** classmate, parents, you · **What happens:** keep, ask, live, do · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A classmate keeps asking why your parents live apart.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:196-white-lies-and-kind-silence:t6:1
# text = A classmate keeps asking why your parents live apart.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	classmate	classmate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
6	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
9	apart	apart	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | a classmate |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund | a classmate *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **live** | present | your parents |  |  |  |  | apart *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What can you honestly do?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:196-white-lies-and-kind-silence:t6:2
# text = What can you honestly do?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	honestly	honestly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | can | you |  |  |  |  | honestly *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pretend you did not hear him ask anything

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:196-white-lies-and-kind-silence:t6:o1:1
# text = Pretend you did not hear him ask anything
1	Pretend	pretend	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	ccomp	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pretend** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **hear** | past · do-support | you | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | infinitive | him *= he* *not said here* | anything |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent anything=Recipient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Invent a story about it so that he stops asking you questions

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:196-white-lies-and-kind-silence:t6:o2:1
# text = Invent a story about it so that he stops asking you questions
1	Invent	invent	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	about	about	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nmod	_	_
6	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	9	mark	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	stops	stop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
10	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	xcomp	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invent** | imperative | you *not said here* | a story |  |  |  | about story | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Result |
| 2 | **stop** | present | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund | he *not said here* | questions | you |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tell him absolutely everything to be polite

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:196-white-lies-and-kind-silence:t6:o3:1
# text = Tell him absolutely everything to be polite
1	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	iobj	_	_
3	absolutely	absolutely	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	1	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
7	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* | everything | him *= he* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient everything=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | polite *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Say you would rather not talk about it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:196-white-lies-and-kind-silence:t6:o4:1
# text = Say you would rather not talk about it
1	Say	say	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	ccomp	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **talk** | would | you |  |  |  |  | about it | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about it=Topic |

<!-- 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: [White lies and kind silence, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/196-white-lies-and-kind-silence/t5/)
- next →: [White lies and kind silence, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/196-white-lies-and-kind-silence/t7/)
- ↑ back to [White lies and kind silence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/196-white-lies-and-kind-silence/)