---
title: «telling is for babies, mate». Which is true? — Getting help is not telling tales · tree and pragmatics
description: «telling is for babies, mate». Which is true? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 369 «Getting help is not telling tales» 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 9 · ★★ · Getting help is not telling tales

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«telling is for babies, mate». Which is true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** tell, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 369 «Getting help is not telling tales» 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/369-getting-help-is-not-telling-tales/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «telling is for babies, mate».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:369-getting-help-is-not-telling-tales:t9:1
# text = «telling is for babies, mate».
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for babies | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **be** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Which is true?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:369-getting-help-is-not-telling-tales:t9:2
# text = Which is true?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only babies need help; big kids sort it out alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:369-getting-help-is-not-telling-tales:t9:o1:1
# text = Only babies need help; big kids sort it out alone
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
6	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	kids	kid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	sort	sort	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	out	out	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
11	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | babies | help |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot help=Theme |
| 2 | **sort out** | present | big kids | help |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Telling makes everything worse every time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:369-getting-help-is-not-telling-tales:t9:o2:1
# text = Telling makes everything worse every time
1	Telling	tell	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	csubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	2	obj	_	_
4	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **make** | present | Telling | everything |  |  | time | bad *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset everything=Product |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Getting help when someone's hurt is right at any age

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:369-getting-help-is-not-telling-tales:t9:o3:1
# text = Getting help when someone's hurt is right at any age
1	Getting	get	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	csubj	_	_
2	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
4	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	hurt	hurt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | gerund |  | help |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer help=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | present | someone's hurt |  |  |  | at any age | right *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **hurt** |  | someone |  |  |  |  |  | nom hurt «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Grown-ups never need help

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:369-getting-help-is-not-telling-tales:t9:o4:1
# text = Grown-ups never need help
1	Grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	ups	up	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **need** | present | Grown ups | help |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot help=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.

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- ← previous: [Getting help is not telling tales, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/369-getting-help-is-not-telling-tales/t8/)
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