---
title: Why do people trust someone who keeps secrets? — Rumours and gossip · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do people trust someone who keeps secrets? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 202 «Rumours and gossip» 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 6 · ★ · Rumours and gossip

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do people trust someone who keeps secrets?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** people · **What happens:** trust, keep · **To what, where:** someone, secrets

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This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 202 «Rumours and gossip» 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/202-rumours-and-gossip/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:202-rumours-and-gossip:t6:1
# text = Why do people trust someone who keeps secrets?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	trust	trust	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	secrets	secret	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trust** | present · do-support | people | someone |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent someone=Theme |
| 2 | **keep** | present |  | secrets |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent secret=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because that person never talks to anyone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:202-rumours-and-gossip:t6:o1:1
# text = Because that person never talks to anyone
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	talks	talk	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **talk** | present | that person |  |  |  |  | to anyone | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to anyone=Co-Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because they hope to hear gossip later

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:202-rumours-and-gossip:t6:o2:1
# text = Because they hope to hear gossip later
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	hope	hope	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	gossip	gossip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hope** | present | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **hear** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | they *not said here* | gossip |  |  |  | late *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer gossip=Stimulus |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They know their secrets will not be spread

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:202-rumours-and-gossip:t6:o3:1
# text = They know their secrets will not be spread
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	secrets	secret	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	spread	spread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **spread** | future · passive |  | their secrets |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because keeping secrets makes you popular

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:202-rumours-and-gossip:t6:o4:1
# text = Because keeping secrets makes you popular
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	csubj	_	_
3	secrets	secret	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	popular	popular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | gerund |  | secrets |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent secret=Theme |
| 2 | **make** | present | keeping | you |  |  |  | popular *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset you=Product |

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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: [Rumours and gossip, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/202-rumours-and-gossip/t5/)
- next →: [Rumours and gossip, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/202-rumours-and-gossip/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Rumours and gossip](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/202-rumours-and-gossip/)