---
title: Why do families agree on rules before a child stays home alone? — Home alone, the door and the phone · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do families agree on rules before a child stays home alone? Test 9 · ★★ 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 right.
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · Home alone, the door and the phone

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do families agree on rules before a child stays home alone?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** families, child · **What happens:** agree, stay

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:35-home-alone:t9:1
# text = Why do families agree on rules before a child stays home alone?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	agree	agree	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
7	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	stays	stay	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
11	home	home	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **agree** *speech: agree* | present · do-support | families |  |  |  |  | on rules | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.theme S»: agent=Agent on rule=Topic |
| 2 | **stay** | present | a child |  |  |  |  | alone, home *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the neighbours know the house is empty and keep an eye on it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:35-home-alone:t9:o1:1
# text = So the neighbours know the house is empty and keep an eye on it
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | the neighbours |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | present | the house |  |  |  |  | empty *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **keep** | infinitive | the neighbours *not said here* | a eye |  | house |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent eye=Theme on it=Location |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the child knows what to do before anything happens

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:35-home-alone:t9:o2:1
# text = So the child knows what to do before anything happens
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
8	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	10	nsubj	_	_
10	happens	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | the child |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 3 | **happen** | present | anything |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the child can do anything they like

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:35-home-alone:t9:o3:1
# text = So the child can do anything they like
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	obj	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | can | the child | anything |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality |
| 2 | **like** | present | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the parents can stay out longer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:35-home-alone:t9:o4:1
# text = So the parents can stay out longer
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	out	out	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay out** | can | the parents |  |  |  |  | long, out *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Home alone, the door and the phone, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/35-home-alone/t8/)
- next →: [Home alone, the door and the phone, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/35-home-alone/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Home alone, the door and the phone](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/35-home-alone/)