---
title: A boy in Texas got money from his uncle and sent nothing back for th… — Phone calls, visiting, thank-you notes… · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy in Texas got money from his uncle and sent nothing back for three months. What would have been better? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 297 «Phone calls, visiting, thank-you notes, interrupting and quiet places» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of th
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Phone calls, visiting, thank-you notes, interrupting and q…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy in Texas got money from his uncle and sent nothing back for three months. What would have been better?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** get, send back, be · **To what, where:** money, nothing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 297 «Phone calls, visiting, thank-you notes, interrupting and quiet places» 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/297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy in Texas got money from his uncle and sent nothing back for three months.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places:t3:1
# text = A boy in Texas got money from his uncle and sent nothing back for three months.
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	Texas	Texas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
12	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	11	obj	_	_
13	back	back	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | a boy in Texas | money |  |  |  | from boy's uncle | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent money=Theme from uncle=Source |
| 2 | **send back** | past | a boy in Texas *not said here* | nothing |  |  | month |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Theme |

<!-- .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 have been better?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places:t3:2
# text = What would have been better?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	cop	_	_
5	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	1	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A thank-you note within a week or two

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places:t3:o1:1
# text = A thank-you note within a week or two
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	thank	thank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	compound	_	_
5	note	note	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	within	within	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	week	week	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Asking for more next time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places:t3:o2:1
# text = Asking for more next time
1	Asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
4	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund |  |  |  |  | time |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Spending it straight away and saying nothing at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places:t3:o3:1
# text = Spending it straight away and saying nothing at all
1	Spending	spend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	conj	_	_
7	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	obj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spend** | gerund |  | it |  |  |  | away *property* | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Asset |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund |  | nothing |  | all |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Waiting until his uncle asked

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places:t3:o4:1
# text = Waiting until his uncle asked
1	Waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	csubj	_	_
2	until	until	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | gerund |  |  |  |  | until his uncle |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Waiting |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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