---
title: Identify the principal reason for which boasting about one's possess… — Interrupting, boasting, your own story… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which boasting about one's possessions is discouraged. Exam question 2 of lesson 320 «Interrupting, boasting, your own story, losing a pet or a person, bullying, saying no, comparing yourself online, pocket money and curiosity» of the everyday course of Mova's prima
---

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# Exam question 2 · Interrupting, boasting, your own story, losing a pet or a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which boasting about one's possessions is discouraged.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, one · **What happens:** identify, boast, be · **To what, where:** principal reason

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 320 «Interrupting, boasting, your own story, losing a pet or a person, bullying, saying no, comparing yourself online, pocket money and curiosity» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/320-interrupting-boasting-loss-bullying-saying-no-and-pocket-money/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:320-interrupting-boasting-loss-bullying-saying-no-and-pocket-money:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which boasting about one's possessions is discouraged.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	obl	_	_
7	boasting	boast	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
8	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	possessions	possession	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	discouraged	discouraged	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **boast** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for the principal reason | vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present | one |  |  |  |  | discouraged *property* | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It causes one's possessions to be envied and subsequently stolen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:320-interrupting-boasting-loss-bullying-saying-no-and-pocket-money:e2:o1:1
# text = It causes one's possessions to be envied and subsequently stolen
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	causes	cause	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	possessions	possession	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	envied	envy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	stolen	steal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | present | It | one's possessions |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition possession=Patient |
| 2 | **envy** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S» |
| 3 | **steal** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | subsequently *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **possess** |  | one |  |  |  |  |  | nom possession «act transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is prohibited by school rules

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:320-interrupting-boasting-loss-bullying-saying-no-and-pocket-money:e2:o2:1
# text = It is prohibited by school rules
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prohibit** | present · passive | school rules | It |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It uses up one's pocket money

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:320-interrupting-boasting-loss-bullying-saying-no-and-pocket-money:e2:o3:1
# text = It uses up one's pocket money
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	uses	use	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	pocket	pocket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use up** | present | It | one's pocket money |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes others feel small and pushes friends away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:320-interrupting-boasting-loss-bullying-saying-no-and-pocket-money:e2:o4:1
# text = It makes others feel small and pushes friends away
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	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	pushes	push	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
9	away	away	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It | others |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **feel** | infinitive | others *not said here* |  |  |  |  | small *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **push away** | present |  | friends |  |  |  | away *property* | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friend=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Interrupting, boasting, your own story…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/320-interrupting-boasting-loss-bullying-saying-no-and-pocket-money/e1/)
- next →: [Interrupting, boasting, your own story…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/320-interrupting-boasting-loss-bullying-saying-no-and-pocket-money/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Interrupting, boasting, your own story, losing a pet or a person, bullying, saying no, comparing yourself online, pocket money and curiosity](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/320-interrupting-boasting-loss-bullying-saying-no-and-pocket-money/)