---
title: Ascertain the principal reason for which a child should not be silen… — Speaking up, saying no and growing up · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal reason for which a child should not be silent about bullying. Exam question 4 of lesson 215 «Speaking up, saying no and growing up» 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 r
---

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# Exam question 4 · Speaking up, saying no and growing up

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal reason for which a child should not be silent about bullying.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, child · **What happens:** ascertain, not be · **To what, where:** principal reason

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 215 «Speaking up, saying no and growing up» 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/215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal reason for which a child should not be silent about bullying.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
9	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	cop	_	_
12	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
13	about	about	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	bullying	bullying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	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 principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **is** | should | a child |  |  |  |  | for the principal reason; about bullying; silent *property* | 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Telling invariably causes more bullying

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up:e4:o1:1
# text = Telling invariably causes more bullying
1	Telling	tell	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	csubj	_	_
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	causes	cause	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	advmod	_	_
5	bullying	bullying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | invariably *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **cause** | present | Telling | bullying |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition bullying=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bullies rely upon silence to continue

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up:e4:o2:1
# text = Bullies rely upon silence to continue
1	Bullies	bully	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	rely	rely	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	continue	continue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rely** | present | Bullies |  |  |  |  | upon silence | vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **continue** | to-infinitive | Bullies *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bullying ceases sooner if it is ignored

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up:e4:o3:1
# text = Bullying ceases sooner if it is ignored
1	Bullying	bullying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ceases	cease	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	advmod	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	ignored	ignore	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cease** | present | Bullying |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **ignore** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · passive |  | Bullying |  |  |  |  | vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Adults are not permitted to intervene in it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up:e4:o4:1
# text = Adults are not permitted to intervene in it
1	Adults	adult	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	permitted	permit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	intervene	intervene	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **permit** | present · passive |  | Adults |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **intervene** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  | it |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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: [Speaking up, saying no and growing up, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/215-speaking-up-saying-no-and-growing-up/e3/)
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