---
title: Ascertain the proper course of action when a prank has gone wrong an… — Pranks: harmless fun or real harm? · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the proper course of action when a prank has gone wrong and its target is upset. Exam question 4 of lesson 204 «Pranks: harmless fun or real harm?» 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
---

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# Exam question 4 · Pranks: harmless fun or real harm?

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the proper course of action when a prank has gone wrong and its target is upset.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, prank, target · **What happens:** ascertain, go, be, target · **To what, where:** proper course

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 204 «Pranks: harmless fun or real harm?» 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/204-pranks/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the proper course of action when a prank has gone wrong and its target is upset.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	11	mark	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	prank	prank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	_
12	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	target	target	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	upset	upset	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the proper course of action |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | present · perfect | a prank |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present | prank's target |  |  |  |  | upset *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **target** |  | prank |  |  |  |  |  | nom target «communication transitive»: poss=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To film the target's reaction

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:e4:o1:1
# text = To film the target's reaction
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	film	film	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	target	target	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	reaction	reaction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **film** | to-infinitive |  | the target's reaction |  |  |  |  | vn transcribe-25.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reaction=Theme |
| 2 | **react** |  | the target |  |  |  |  |  | nom reaction «process intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To repeat the prank to show it was a joke

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:e4:o2:1
# text = To repeat the prank to show it was a joke
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	repeat	repeat	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	prank	prank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **repeat** | to-infinitive |  | the prank |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prank=Eventuality |
| 2 | **show** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | past | prank | a joke |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To desist, apologise and render assistance

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:e4:o3:1
# text = To desist, apologise and render assistance
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	desist	desist	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	apologise	apologise	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	render	render	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
7	assistance	assistance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **desist** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn refrain-69 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **apologise** *speech: apologize* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **render** | infinitive | you *not said here* | assistance |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent assistance=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To depart before an adult arrives

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:e4:o4:1
# text = To depart before an adult arrives
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	depart	depart	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	adult	adult	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	arrives	arrive	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **depart** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **arrive** | present | a adult |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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: [Pranks: harmless fun or real harm?, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/204-pranks/e3/)
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