---
title: What is the main reason it is against the law to prank call 911 or 9… — Covering up, false alarms and playing… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is the main reason it is against the law to prank call 911 or 999? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 277 «Covering up, false alarms and playing fair» 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 5 · ★ · Covering up, false alarms and playing fair

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What is the main reason it is against the law to prank call 911 or 999?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** main reason, reason · **What happens:** be, call · **To what, where:** 911 · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 277 «Covering up, false alarms and playing fair» 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/277-covering-up-false-alarms-and-fair-play/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:277-covering-up-false-alarms-and-fair-play:t5:1
# text = What is the main reason it is against the law to prank call 911 or 999?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	main	main	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	against	against	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
12	prank	prank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
14	911	911	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	13	obj	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	999	999	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the main reason |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | reason |  |  |  |  | against the law | tree rules |
| 3 | **call** | to-infinitive | reason *not said here* | 911 |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent 911=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
Phones may break if used that way

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:277-covering-up-false-alarms-and-fair-play:t5:o1:1
# text = Phones may break if used that way
1	Phones	phone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
6	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | may | Phones | that way |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **use** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle | Phones *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes the operators tired of their job

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:277-covering-up-false-alarms-and-fair-play:t5:o2:1
# text = It makes the operators tired of their job
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	operators	operator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	job	job	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It | the operators |  |  |  | tired *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material operator=Product |
| 2 | **job** |  | operators *= operator* |  |  |  |  |  | nom job «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It costs the caller a large fee each time they ring the number

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:277-covering-up-false-alarms-and-fair-play:t5:o3:1
# text = It costs the caller a large fee each time they ring the number
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	costs	cost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	caller	caller	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	fee	fee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
8	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	ring	ring	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cost** | present | It | the caller |  |  | time |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Theme caller=Beneficiary fee=Value |
| 2 | **ring** | present | they | the number |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location number=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It can delay help for someone in a real emergency

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:277-covering-up-false-alarms-and-fair-play:t5:o4:1
# text = It can delay help for someone in a real emergency
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	delay	delay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	3	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	emergency	emergency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **delay** | can | It | help |  | a real emergency |  | for someone | vn delay-53.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent help=Source |

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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: [Covering up, false alarms and playing…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/277-covering-up-false-alarms-and-fair-play/t4/)
- next →: [Covering up, false alarms and playing…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/277-covering-up-false-alarms-and-fair-play/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Covering up, false alarms and playing fair](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/277-covering-up-false-alarms-and-fair-play/)