---
title: Why can a magician's «free choice» of card not really be free? — April Fools' Day and how magic tricks… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why can a magician's «free choice» of card not really be free? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 279 «April Fools' Day and how magic tricks work» 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 4 · ★ · April Fools' Day and how magic tricks work

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why can a magician's «free choice» of card not really be free?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** magician, free choice · **What happens:** choice, not be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 279 «April Fools' Day and how magic tricks work» 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/279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks:t4:1
# text = Why can a magician's «free choice» of card not really be free?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	magician	magician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	choice	choice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	card	card	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
13	really	really	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	cop	_	_
15	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choice** *in a quote* | can | a magician |  |  |  |  | of card | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** | infinitive | free choice |  |  |  |  | free *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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Magicians can force a card while it looks like you chose

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks:t4:o1:1
# text = Magicians can force a card while it looks like you chose
1	Magicians	magician	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	force	force	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	card	card	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	looks	look	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
9	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **force** | can | Magicians | a card |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent card=Recipient |
| 2 | **look** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **choose** | past | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Every card in the deck is secretly the same, so any choice is his

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks:t4:o2:1
# text = Every card in the deck is secretly the same, so any choice is his
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	card	card	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	deck	deck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	secretly	secretly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	det	_	_
13	choice	choice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | every card in the deck |  |  |  |  | same, secretly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The audience is told the answer first

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks:t4:o3:1
# text = The audience is told the answer first
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	audience	audience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | the audience |  |  |  | first *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient answer=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cards are chosen by the lighting

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks:t4:o4:1
# text = Cards are chosen by the lighting
1	Cards	card	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	lighting	lighting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | present · passive | the lighting | Cards |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [April Fools' Day and how magic tricks…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks/t3/)
- next →: [April Fools' Day and how magic tricks…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks/t5/)
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