---
title: State the practice most consistent with the avoidance of waste at a… — Wasting food and water · tree and pragmatics
description: State the practice most consistent with the avoidance of waste at a self-service meal. Exam question 4 of lesson 360 «Wasting food and water» 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 · Wasting food and water

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the practice most consistent with the avoidance of waste at a self-service meal.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** state, avoid · **To what, where:** practice, waste, service meal

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 360 «Wasting food and water» 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/360-sandwiches-taps-lights-paper-and-the-buffet/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:360-sandwiches-taps-lights-paper-and-the-buffet:e4:1
# text = State the practice most consistent with the avoidance of waste at a self-service meal.
1	State	state	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	practice	practice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	5	advmod	_	_
5	consistent	consistent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	avoidance	avoidance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	waste	waste	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
13	self	self	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	service	service	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **state** *speech: other* | imperative | you *not said here* | the practice |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent practice=Topic |
| 2 | **avoid** |  |  | waste |  | a service meal |  |  | nom avoidance «act transitive»: of=patient at=place |

<!-- .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 taking of the maximum available portion on the first visit to the table

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:360-sandwiches-taps-lights-paper-and-the-buffet:e4:o1:1
# text = The taking of the maximum available portion on the first visit to the table
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	taking	taking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	maximum	maximum	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	available	available	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	portion	portion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	11	amod	_	_
11	visit	visit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** |  |  | the maximum available portion |  | the first visit |  | to the table | nom taking «act transitive»: of=patient on=place to=obl |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The taking of dessert alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:360-sandwiches-taps-lights-paper-and-the-buffet:e4:o2:1
# text = The taking of dessert alone
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	taking	taking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	dessert	dessert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** |  |  | dessert |  |  |  |  | nom taking «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The discarding of portions found unappealing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:360-sandwiches-taps-lights-paper-and-the-buffet:e4:o3:1
# text = The discarding of portions found unappealing
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	discarding	discarding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	portions	portion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	unappealing	unappealing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | participle · passive |  | the discarding of portions |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme unappealing=Attribute |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The taking of modest portions with return for more if required

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:360-sandwiches-taps-lights-paper-and-the-buffet:e4:o4:1
# text = The taking of modest portions with return for more if required
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	taking	taking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	modest	modest	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	portions	portion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	nmod	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	required	require	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **require** | participle |  | the taking of modest portions with return for more *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **take** |  |  | modest portions with return for more |  |  |  |  | nom taking «act transitive»: of=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: [Wasting food and water, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/360-sandwiches-taps-lights-paper-and-the-buffet/e3/)
- next →: [Spoiling and losing things, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/361-crayons-fridges-paper-planes-and-a-stolen-bike/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Wasting food and water](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/360-sandwiches-taps-lights-paper-and-the-buffet/)