---
title: Ascertain the principal reason for which medicine is never described… — Balconies, blades, batteries and stran… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal reason for which medicine is never described to children as sweets. Exam question 4 of lesson 218 «Balconies, blades, batteries and strange bottles» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mo
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/218-balconies-blades-batteries-and-bottles/e4/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/) / [Balconies, blades, batteries and stran…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/218-balconies-blades-batteries-and-bottles/) / e4

# Exam question 4 · Balconies, blades, batteries and strange bottles

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal reason for which medicine is never described to children as sweets.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, not describe · **To what, where:** principal reason, medicine

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 218 «Balconies, blades, batteries and strange bottles» 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/218-balconies-blades-batteries-and-bottles/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:218-balconies-blades-batteries-and-bottles:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal reason for which medicine is never described to children as sweets.
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	10	obl	_	_
7	medicine	medicine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
9	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	described	describe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
13	as	as	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	sweets	sweet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	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** **describe** | present · passive |  | medicine |  |  |  | for the principal reason; to children; as sweets | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Theme as sweet=Attribute |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Medicine tastes considerably better when it is so described

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:218-balconies-blades-batteries-and-bottles:e4:o1:1
# text = Medicine tastes considerably better when it is so described
1	Medicine	medicine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tastes	taste	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	considerably	considerably	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	described	describe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **taste** | present | Medicine |  |  |  |  | good *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **describe** | present · passive |  | Medicine |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Medicine and sweets contain the same ingredients

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:218-balconies-blades-batteries-and-bottles:e4:o2:1
# text = Medicine and sweets contain the same ingredients
1	Medicine	medicine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	sweets	sweet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
4	contain	contain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	ingredients	ingredient	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contain** | present | Medicine and sweets | the same ingredients |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot ingredient=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a description required by law

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:218-balconies-blades-batteries-and-bottles:e4:o3:1
# text = It is a description required by law
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	description	description	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	required	require	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a description |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **require** | participle |  | a description *not said here* |  |  |  | by law | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Children may consume it believing it to be sweets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:218-balconies-blades-batteries-and-bottles:e4:o4:1
# text = Children may consume it believing it to be sweets
1	Children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	consume	consume	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	believing	believe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
9	sweets	sweet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consume** | may | Children | it |  |  |  |  | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Asset |
| 2 | **believe** | gerund | Children *not said here* | it |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | sweets |  |  |  |  | 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Balconies, blades, batteries and stran…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/218-balconies-blades-batteries-and-bottles/e3/)
- next →: [Fire, fireworks, garden dangers and th…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/219-fire-fireworks-tools-and-the-bathroom/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Balconies, blades, batteries and strange bottles](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/218-balconies-blades-batteries-and-bottles/)