---
title: waiting at the doctor's, a lady tells the receptionist "my ex is pic… — Good manners and safety in town: shops… · tree and pragmatics
description: waiting at the doctor's, a lady tells the receptionist "my ex is picking up the kids today". what does "ex" mean? Test 20 of lesson 311 «Good manners and safety in town: shops, restaurants, the library, the doctor and crowds» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree 
---

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# Test 20 · Good manners and safety in town: shops, restaurants, the l…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
waiting at the doctor's, a lady tells the receptionist "my ex is picking up the kids today". what does "ex" mean?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** lady, ex · **What happens:** wait, tell, pick up, mean · **To what, where:** doctor, receptionist, kids · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 20 of lesson 311 «Good manners and safety in town: shops, restaurants, the library, the doctor and crowds» 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/311-good-manners-and-safety-in-town/#t20).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:311-good-manners-and-safety-in-town:t20:1
# text = waiting at the doctor's, a lady tells the receptionist "my ex is picking up the kids today". what does "ex" mean?
1	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	csubj	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	doctor	doctor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	receptionist	receptionist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	ex	ex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	picking	pick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	ccomp	_	_
17	up	up	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	kids	kid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
20	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
23	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	28	obj	_	_
24	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
25	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	ex	ex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	26	punct	_	_
28	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | gerund |  |  |  | the doctor |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at doctor=Location |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | a lady | the receptionist |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent receptionist=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **pick up** *in a quote* | present · progressive | my ex | the kids |  |  | today |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kid=Topic |
| 4 | **mean** | present · do-support | ex |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
Her extra doctor who helps out on busy days

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:311-good-manners-and-safety-in-town:t20:o1:1
# text = Her extra doctor who helps out on busy days
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	extra	extra	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	doctor	doctor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	helps	help	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help out** | present | Her extra doctor |  |  |  | day |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The person she used to be married to or go out with

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:311-good-manners-and-safety-in-town:t20:o2:1
# text = The person she used to be married to or go out with
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	married	marry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	xcomp	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	obl	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
11	out	out	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | the person |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **marry** | to-infinitive · passive | the person *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V» |
| 3 | **go out** | infinitive | the person *not said here* |  |  |  |  | out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her taxi driver

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:311-good-manners-and-safety-in-town:t20:o3:1
# text = Her taxi driver
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	taxi	taxi	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	driver	driver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her neighbour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:311-good-manners-and-safety-in-town:t20:o4:1
# text = Her neighbour
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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 -->

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