---
title: Ben's prank makes his little sister cry. Ben says, «But it's only a… — Pranks: harmless fun or real harm? · tree and pragmatics
description: Ben's prank makes his little sister cry. Ben says, «But it's only a joke!» What is true? Test 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 right
---

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# Test 4 · ★★ · Pranks: harmless fun or real harm?

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ben's prank makes his little sister cry. Ben says, «But it's only a joke!» What is true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** prank, Ben, cry · **What happens:** make, cry, say, be · **To what, where:** little sister cry, joke · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★★ of lesson 204 «Pranks: harmless fun or real harm?» 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/204-pranks/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Ben's prank makes his little sister cry.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t4:1
# text = Ben's prank makes his little sister cry.
1	Ben	Ben	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	prank	prank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	cry	cry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Ben's prank | prank's little sister cry |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset cry=Product |
| 2 | **cry** |  | prank |  |  |  |  |  | nom cry «communication intransitive»: 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Ben says, «But it's only a joke!»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t4:2
# text = Ben says, «But it's only a joke!»
1	Ben	Ben	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	only	only	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: express* | present | Ben |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | cry | a joke |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What is true?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t4:3
# text = What is true?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A prank that hurts someone is no longer a joke

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t4:o1:1
# text = A prank that hurts someone is no longer a joke
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prank	prank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	hurts	hurt	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
7	no	no	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	10	advmod	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hurt** | present | a prank | someone |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer someone=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | present | a prank | a joke |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Crying shows she found it funny

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t4:o2:1
# text = Crying shows she found it funny
1	Crying	cry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	nsubj	_	_
2	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cry** *speech: express* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **show** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **find** | past | she | it |  |  |  | funny *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His sister should learn to take a joke

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t4:o3:1
# text = His sister should learn to take a joke
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | should | His sister |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **take** | to-infinitive | His sister *not said here* | a joke |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent joke=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is still a joke because Ben meant it as one

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t4:o4:1
# text = It is still a joke because Ben meant it as one
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	still	still	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	Ben	Ben	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a joke |  |  | still |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **mean** | past | Ben | joke |  |  |  | as one | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent it=Topic as one=Attribute |

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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?, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/204-pranks/t3/)
- next →: [Pranks: harmless fun or real harm?, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/204-pranks/t5/)
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