---
title: State the principal consequence of the habitual keeping of small pro… — Promises to family · tree and pragmatics
description: State the principal consequence of the habitual keeping of small promises. Exam question 4 of lesson 358 «Promises to family» 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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# Exam question 4 · Promises to family

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the principal consequence of the habitual keeping of small promises.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** habitual · **What happens:** keep

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 358 «Promises to family» 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/358-promises-to-little-brothers-gran-dad-and-the-cat/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:358-promises-to-little-brothers-gran-dad-and-the-cat:e4:1
# text = State the principal consequence of the habitual keeping of small promises.
1	State	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	consequence	consequence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	habitual	habitual	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	promises	promise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | gerund | the habitual *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of small promises | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The person comes to be excused from keeping larger promises

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:358-promises-to-little-brothers-gran-dad-and-the-cat:e4:o1:1
# text = The person comes to be excused from keeping larger promises
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	excused	excuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
7	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
9	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	amod	_	_
10	promises	promise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | present | the person |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **excuse** | to-infinitive · passive | the person *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP» |
| 3 | **keep** | gerund | the person *not said here* | larger promises |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent promise=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No consequence follows

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:358-promises-to-little-brothers-gran-dad-and-the-cat:e4:o2:1
# text = No consequence follows
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	consequence	consequence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	follows	follow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | present | no consequence |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Others come to trust the person's word

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:358-promises-to-little-brothers-gran-dad-and-the-cat:e4:o3:1
# text = Others come to trust the person's word
1	Others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	trust	trust	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | present | Others |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **trust** | to-infinitive | Others *not said here* | the person's word |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 3 | **word** |  | the person |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Promises cease to be necessary

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:358-promises-to-little-brothers-gran-dad-and-the-cat:e4:o4:1
# text = Promises cease to be necessary
1	Promises	promise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	cease	cease	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cease** | present | Promises |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | Promises *not said here* |  |  |  |  | necessary *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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: [Promises to family, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/358-promises-to-little-brothers-gran-dad-and-the-cat/e3/)
- next →: [Promises to friends and to yourself, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/359-promises-to-friends-and-to-yourself/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Promises to family](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/358-promises-to-little-brothers-gran-dad-and-the-cat/)