---
title: Why do bullies tell children to keep quiet? — Jealousy, boredom, pride and hard mome… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do bullies tell children to keep quiet? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 292 «Jealousy, boredom, pride and hard moments» 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 right.
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Jealousy, boredom, pride and hard moments

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do bullies tell children to keep quiet?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** bullies · **What happens:** tell, keep · **To what, where:** children · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 292 «Jealousy, boredom, pride and hard moments» 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/292-jealousy-boredom-pride-and-hard-moments/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:292-jealousy-boredom-pride-and-hard-moments:t8:1
# text = Why do bullies tell children to keep quiet?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	bullies	bully	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
8	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | bullies |  | children |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent child=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **keep** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | bullies *not said here* |  |  |  |  | quiet *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: 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 -->
Keeping quiet makes the bully stop sooner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:292-jealousy-boredom-pride-and-hard-moments:t8:o1:1
# text = Keeping quiet makes the bully stop sooner
1	Keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	csubj	_	_
2	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	xcomp	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	bully	bully	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	stop	stop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	xcomp	_	_
7	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | quiet *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **make** | present | Keeping | the bully |  |  |  | soon *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **stop** | present | the bully *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Telling always makes bullying much worse, so it's better to stay quiet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:292-jealousy-boredom-pride-and-hard-moments:t8:o2:1
# text = Telling always makes bullying much worse, so it's better to stay quiet
1	Telling	tell	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	csubj	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	1	advmod	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	bullying	bully	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	obj	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	expl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	csubj	_	_
14	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **make** | present | Telling |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 3 | **bully** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | vn captain-29.8-1 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | present | Telling *not said here* |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **stay** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | quiet *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bullies rely on silence; telling is what stops it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:292-jealousy-boredom-pride-and-hard-moments:t8:o3:1
# text = Bullies rely on silence; telling is what stops it
1	Bullies	bully	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	rely	rely	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	nsubj	_	_
9	stops	stop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rely** | present | Bullies |  |  |  |  | on silence | vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S\_ING»: agent=Agent on silence=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund | Bullies *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **stop** | present |  | silence |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality it=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Teachers do not want to know

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:292-jealousy-boredom-pride-and-hard-moments:t8:o4:1
# text = Teachers do not want to know
1	Teachers	teacher	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **want** | present · do-support | Teachers |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **know** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Teachers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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