---
title: Two step-sisters keep arguing about the TV. What is most likely to h… — Family changes and grief · tree and pragmatics
description: Two step-sisters keep arguing about the TV. What is most likely to help? Test 4 · ★★ of lesson 214 «Family changes and grief» 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 4 · ★★ · Family changes and grief

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two step-sisters keep arguing about the TV. What is most likely to help?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Two step sisters · **What happens:** keep, argue, be, help

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★★ of lesson 214 «Family changes and grief» 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/214-family-changes-and-grief/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Two step-sisters keep arguing about the TV.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:214-family-changes-and-grief:t4:1
# text = Two step-sisters keep arguing about the TV.
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
2	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	arguing	argue	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	TV	TV	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | Two step sisters |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **argue** *speech: disagree* | gerund | Two step sisters *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about the TV | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.theme S»: agent=Agent about tv=Topic |

<!-- .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 is most likely to help?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:214-family-changes-and-grief:t4:2
# text = What is most likely to help?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	4	advmod	_	_
4	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **help** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Making one of them always win

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:214-family-changes-and-grief:t4:o1:1
# text = Making one of them always win
1	Making	make	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	csubj	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	obj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nmod	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
6	win	win	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | gerund |  | one of them |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset one=Product |
| 2 | **win** | present | Making |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Never speaking to each other

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:214-family-changes-and-grief:t4:o2:1
# text = Never speaking to each other
1	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
2	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	2	obl	_	_
5	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	fixed	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Asking the parents to split up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:214-family-changes-and-grief:t4:o3:1
# text = Asking the parents to split up
1	Asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	split	split	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund |  |  | the parents |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent parent=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **split up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Finding things they both enjoy and giving each other space

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:214-family-changes-and-grief:t4:o4:1
# text = Finding things they both enjoy and giving each other space
1	Finding	find	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	enjoy	enjoy	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	giving	give	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	conj	_	_
8	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	det	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | gerund |  | things |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Topic |
| 2 | **enjoy** | present | things *= thing* | things *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer thing=Stimulus |
| 3 | **give** | gerund |  | each other space |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent space=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.

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- ← previous: [Family changes and grief, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/214-family-changes-and-grief/t3/)
- next →: [Family changes and grief, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/214-family-changes-and-grief/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Family changes and grief](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/214-family-changes-and-grief/)