---
title: What would most likely happen if a child told a phone caller that th… — Home alone, the door and the phone · tree and pragmatics
description: What would most likely happen if a child told a phone caller that they were home alone? Test 2 · ★★ of lesson 35 «Home alone, the door and the phone» 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 2 · ★★ · Home alone, the door and the phone

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would most likely happen if a child told a phone caller that they were home alone?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** child, they · **What happens:** happen, tell, be · **To what, where:** phone caller · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★★ of lesson 35 «Home alone, the door and the phone» 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/35-home-alone/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:35-home-alone:t2:1
# text = What would most likely happen if a child told a phone caller that they were home alone?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	4	advmod	_	_
4	likely	likely	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	phone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	caller	caller	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	home	home	ADV	RB	_	9	ccomp	_	_
17	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a child | a phone caller |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent caller=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | past | they |  |  |  |  | alone, home *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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The parents would come home sooner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:35-home-alone:t2:o1:1
# text = The parents would come home sooner
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	home	home	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | would | the parents |  |  |  |  | home, soon *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The caller would hang up and forget

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:35-home-alone:t2:o2:1
# text = The caller would hang up and forget
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	caller	caller	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	hang	hang	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	forget	forget	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hang up** | would | the caller |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **forget** | infinitive | the caller *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, because callers cannot see the house

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:35-home-alone:t2:o3:1
# text = Nothing, because callers cannot see the house
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	callers	caller	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | can | callers | the house |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer house=Stimulus |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A person with bad plans would know the house has no adult

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:35-home-alone:t2:o4:1
# text = A person with bad plans would know the house has no adult
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
3	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	plans	plan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	acl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	12	det	_	_
12	adult	adult	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | would | bad plans | the house |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer house=Stimulus |
| 2 | **have** | present | a person | no adult |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent adult=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Home alone, the door and the phone, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/35-home-alone/t1/)
- next →: [Home alone, the door and the phone, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/35-home-alone/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Home alone, the door and the phone](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/35-home-alone/)