---
title: Friend's mum on the phone: «My son says the crack wasn't there befor… — Breaking things and hiding the pieces · tree and pragmatics
description: Friend's mum on the phone: «My son says the crack wasn't there before he lent it.» What helps most now? Test 5 · ★★★ of lesson 342 «Breaking things and hiding the pieces» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova
---

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# Test 5 · ★★★ · Breaking things and hiding the pieces

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Friend's mum on the phone: «My son says the crack wasn't there before he lent it.» What helps most now?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** mum, crack, son · **What happens:** say, not be, lend, help · **To what, where:** crack · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 5 · ★★★ of lesson 342 «Breaking things and hiding the pieces» 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/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Friend's mum on the phone: «My son says the crack wasn't there before he lent it.»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces:t5:1
# text = Friend's mum on the phone: «My son says the crack wasn't there before he lent it.»
1	Friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	phone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
8	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	crack	crack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	ccomp	_	_
17	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	lent	lend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | Friend's mum on the phone |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | past | the crack |  |  |  |  | there *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **lend** *in a quote* | past | son | crack |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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 helps most now?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces:t5:2
# text = What helps most now?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	helps	help	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	4	advmod	_	_
4	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Say her son did it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces:t5:o1:1
# text = Say her son did it
1	Say	say	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | past | her son | it |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hang up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces:t5:o2:1
# text = Hang up
1	Hang	hang	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	up	up	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hang up** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Say sorry, tell the truth and offer to pay

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces:t5:o3:1
# text = Say sorry, tell the truth and offer to pay
1	Say	say	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	offer	offer	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: apologize* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | sorry *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | you *not said here* | the truth |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent truth=Recipient |
| 3 | **offer** | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **pay** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stick to the story and say nothing more

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces:t5:o4:1
# text = Stick to the story and say nothing more
1	Stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	obj	_	_
8	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive | Stick to the story | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |

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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: [Breaking things and hiding the pieces, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/t4/)
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