---
title: Why should you say "Excuse me" before you interrupt? — Phone calls, visiting, thank-you notes… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why should you say "Excuse me" before you interrupt? Test 6 · ★ 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 the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · Phone calls, visiting, thank-you notes, interrupting and q…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why should you say "Excuse me" before you interrupt?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** say, excuse, interrupt · **To what, where:** me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places:t6:1
# text = Why should you say "Excuse me" before you interrupt?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Excuse	excuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
9	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	interrupt	interrupt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | should | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **excuse** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | me |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 3 | **interrupt** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is only needed with teachers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places:t6:o1:1
# text = It is only needed with teachers
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	needed	need	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	teachers	teacher	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  | with teachers | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: subject=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes the interruption polite

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places:t6:o2:1
# text = It makes the interruption polite
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	interruption	interruption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It | the interruption |  |  |  | polite *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material interruption=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means you can then talk as long as you like

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places:t6:o3:1
# text = It means you can then talk as long as you like
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
6	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
7	as	as	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
9	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **talk** | can | you |  |  |  | then | long *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **like** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It stops the other person being cross forever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places:t6:o4:1
# text = It stops the other person being cross forever
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stops	stop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
7	cross	cross	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
8	forever	forever	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | gerund | the other person |  |  |  |  | cross, forever *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

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- ← previous: [Phone calls, visiting, thank-you notes…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places/t5/)
- next →: [Phone calls, visiting, thank-you notes…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Phone calls, visiting, thank-you notes, interrupting and quiet places](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/297-calls-visits-thank-yous-and-quiet-places/)