---
title: A boy in Dublin loses a game of snakes and ladders and blames his fr… — Safe toys and fair board games · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy in Dublin loses a game of snakes and ladders and blames his friend. What should he understand? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 302 «Safe toys and fair board games» 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 wa
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Safe toys and fair board games

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy in Dublin loses a game of snakes and ladders and blames his friend. What should he understand?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** lose, blame, understand · **To what, where:** game, friend

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 302 «Safe toys and fair board games» 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/302-toys-and-board-games/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy in Dublin loses a game of snakes and ladders and blames his friend.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:302-toys-and-board-games:t9:1
# text = A boy in Dublin loses a game of snakes and ladders and blames his friend.
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	Dublin	Dublin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	loses	lose	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	ladders	ladder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	blames	blame	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | present | a boy in Dublin | a game of snakes and ladders |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent game=Eventuality |
| 2 | **blame** | present | a boy in Dublin *not said here* | boy's friend |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friend=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 should he understand?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:302-toys-and-board-games:t9:2
# text = What should he understand?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | should | boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The board was unfair to the player in blue

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:302-toys-and-board-games:t9:o1:1
# text = The board was unfair to the player in blue
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	board	board	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	unfair	unfair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	player	player	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the board |  |  |  |  | to the player in blue; unfair *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a game of chance, so nobody is to blame

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:302-toys-and-board-games:t9:o2:1
# text = It is a game of chance, so nobody is to blame
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
9	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	12	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	blame	blame	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a game |  |  |  | of chance | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | nobody |  |  |  |  | blame *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His friend must have cheated somehow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:302-toys-and-board-games:t9:o3:1
# text = His friend must have cheated somehow
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	cheated	cheat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	somehow	somehow	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cheat** | must · perfect | His friend |  |  |  |  | somehow *property* | vn cheat-10.6.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He would have won if he had thought harder about where to land

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:302-toys-and-board-games:t9:o4:1
# text = He would have won if he had thought harder about where to land
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	won	win	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
9	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	xcomp	_	_
10	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	13	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	land	land	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **win** | would · perfect | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | he |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **land** | to-infinitive | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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