---
title: A boy phones random numbers and pretends to be a policeman. Who migh… — Pranks: harmless fun or real harm? · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy phones random numbers and pretends to be a policeman. Who might he upset most? Test 8 · ★★ 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 8 · ★★ · Pranks: harmless fun or real harm?

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy phones random numbers and pretends to be a policeman. Who might he upset most?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** phone, pretend, be, upset · **To what, where:** random numbers, policeman, most

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy phones random numbers and pretends to be a policeman.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t8:1
# text = A boy phones random numbers and pretends to be a policeman.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	phones	phone	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	random	random	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	pretends	pretend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	cop	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	policeman	policeman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **phone** | present | a boy | random numbers |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent number=Recipient |
| 2 | **pretend** | present | a boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | to-infinitive | a boy *not said here* | a policeman |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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:* Who might he upset most?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t8:2
# text = Who might he upset most?
1	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	upset	upset	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **upset** | might |  | most |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus most=Experiencer |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An older person living alone who is frightened

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t8:o1:1
# text = An older person living alone who is frightened
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
5	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	parataxis	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | gerund | a older person *not said here* |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **frighten** | present · passive |  | a older person |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody at all, since it is all just pretend

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t8:o2:1
# text = Nobody at all, since it is all just pretend
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
5	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	all	all	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	just	just	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	pretend	pretend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only the real police officers who hear about it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t8:o3:1
# text = Only the real police officers who hear about it
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	police	police	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	officers	officer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	hear	hear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | present | the real police officers |  |  |  |  | about it | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer about it=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only people whose phones do not show caller ID

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:204-pranks:t8:o4:1
# text = Only people whose phones do not show caller ID
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
3	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	phones	phone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	caller	call	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	amod	_	_
9	ID	id	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **show** | present · do-support | people | caller ID |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent id=Recipient |

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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: [Pranks: harmless fun or real harm?, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/204-pranks/t7/)
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