---
title: Which is TRUE about a lie that has worked three times? — Excuses and the lies that grow · tree and pragmatics
description: Which is TRUE about a lie that has worked three times? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 337 «Excuses and the lies that grow» 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 9 · ★ · Excuses and the lies that grow

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which is TRUE about a lie that has worked three times?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** lie · **What happens:** be, work

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 337 «Excuses and the lies that grow» 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/337-excuses-and-the-lies-that-grow/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:337-excuses-and-the-lies-that-grow:t9:1
# text = Which is TRUE about a lie that has worked three times?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	TRUE	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	lie	lie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
8	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	worked	work	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | about a lie; true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **work** | present · perfect | a lie |  |  |  | time |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The next time it may be found out, and all three come out together

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:337-excuses-and-the-lies-that-grow:t9:o1:1
# text = The next time it may be found out, and all three come out together
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nsubj	_	_
13	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
14	out	out	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	together	together	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find out** | may · passive |  | it |  |  | time |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **come out** | present | all three |  |  |  |  | out, together *property* | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It only matters if you get caught the first time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:337-excuses-and-the-lies-that-grow:t9:o2:1
# text = It only matters if you get caught the first time
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	matters	matter	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	get	get	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	10	amod	_	_
10	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **matter** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **catch** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · passive |  | you |  |  | time |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is now completely safe, because three times shows that nobody ever checks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:337-excuses-and-the-lies-that-grow:t9:o3:1
# text = It is now completely safe, because three times shows that nobody ever checks
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
4	completely	completely	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	14	nsubj	_	_
13	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	14	advmod	_	_
14	checks	check	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  | now | completely, safe *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **show** | present | three times |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **check** | present | nobody |  |  |  | ever |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has become true

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:337-excuses-and-the-lies-that-grow:t9:o4:1
# text = It has become true
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | present · perfect | It |  |  |  |  | true *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

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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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- ← previous: [Excuses and the lies that grow, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/337-excuses-and-the-lies-that-grow/t8/)
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