---
title: Which is the polite way to interrupt two grown-ups talking? — Queues, taking turns and interrupting · tree and pragmatics
description: Which is the polite way to interrupt two grown-ups talking? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 223 «Queues, taking turns and interrupting» 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 7 · ★ · Queues, taking turns and interrupting

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which is the polite way to interrupt two grown-ups talking?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** two grown ups · **What happens:** be, interrupt, grow, talk · **To what, where:** polite way, two grown ups

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This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 223 «Queues, taking turns and interrupting» 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/223-queues-taking-turns-and-interrupting/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:223-queues-taking-turns-and-interrupting:t7:1
# text = Which is the polite way to interrupt two grown-ups talking?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	interrupt	interrupt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
9	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	ups	up	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
12	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the polite way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **interrupt** | to-infinitive |  | two grown ups |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **grow** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **talk** | gerund | two grown ups *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Talking over them until they stop

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:223-queues-taking-turns-and-interrupting:t7:o1:1
# text = Talking over them until they stop
1	Talking	talk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	csubj	_	_
2	over	over	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obl	_	_
4	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	stop	stop	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 | **talk** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | over them *= they* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **stop** | present | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Clapping your hands at them loudly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:223-queues-taking-turns-and-interrupting:t7:o2:1
# text = Clapping your hands at them loudly
1	Clapping	clap	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obl	_	_
6	loudly	loudly	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clap** | gerund |  | your hands |  |  |  | at hands *= hand*; loudly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location hand=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Sorry to interrupt, but..."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:223-queues-taking-turns-and-interrupting:t7:o3:1
# text = "Sorry to interrupt, but..."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Sorry	sorry	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	interrupt	interrupt	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	...	...	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **interrupt** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pulling at their clothes and coats

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:223-queues-taking-turns-and-interrupting:t7:o4:1
# text = Pulling at their clothes and coats
1	Pulling	pull	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	1	obl	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	coats	coat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | at their clothes and coats | vn push-12-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent at clothes=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: [Queues, taking turns and interrupting, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/223-queues-taking-turns-and-interrupting/t6/)
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