---
title: A boy in Ireland says, "I'll never be good at maths, so why try?" Wh… — Learning a skill, and coins and notes · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy in Ireland says, "I'll never be good at maths, so why try?" What would help him most? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 260 «Learning a skill, and coins and notes» 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
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Learning a skill, and coins and notes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy in Ireland says, "I'll never be good at maths, so why try?" What would help him most?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** say, not be, try, help · **To what, where:** maths, boy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 260 «Learning a skill, and coins and notes» 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/260-learning-skills-and-coins/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy in Ireland says, "I'll never be good at maths, so why try?"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:260-learning-skills-and-coins:t8:1
# text = A boy in Ireland says, "I'll never be good at maths, so why try?"
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	'll	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	cop	_	_
12	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	maths	math	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
18	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | present | a boy in Ireland |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | future | a boy in Ireland *= boy* |  |  | maths |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **try** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 would help him most?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:260-learning-skills-and-coins:t8:2
# text = What would help him most?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | would |  |  | boy |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Copying his friend's homework

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:260-learning-skills-and-coins:t8:o1:1
# text = Copying his friend's homework
1	Copying	copy	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	homework	homework	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **copy** | gerund |  | his friend's homework |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent homework=Theme |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Knowing that maths grows with practice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:260-learning-skills-and-coins:t8:o2:1
# text = Knowing that maths grows with practice
1	Knowing	know	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	csubj	_	_
2	that	that	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	maths	math	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
4	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	practice	practice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | that maths | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **grow** | present | Knowing |  |  |  |  | with practice | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only doing the easy sums so he never gets anything wrong

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:260-learning-skills-and-coins:t8:o3:1
# text = Only doing the easy sums so he never gets anything wrong
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	csubj	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	sums	sum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	gets	get	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	obj	_	_
11	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | gerund |  | the easy sums |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sum=Eventuality |
| 2 | **not** **get** | present | he | anything |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer anything=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Avoiding all maths lessons from now on

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:260-learning-skills-and-coins:t8:o4:1
# text = Avoiding all maths lessons from now on
1	Avoiding	avoid	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	det	_	_
3	maths	math	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	compound	_	_
4	lessons	lesson	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	1	obl	_	_
7	on	on	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **avoid** | gerund |  | maths lessons |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent lesson=Location |

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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: [Learning a skill, and coins and notes, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/260-learning-skills-and-coins/t7/)
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