---
title: «standing by a mate means fighting for him, obvs». Is it? — Standing by a friend · tree and pragmatics
description: «standing by a mate means fighting for him, obvs». Is it? Test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 370 «Standing by a friend» 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 · ★★★ · Standing by a friend

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«standing by a mate means fighting for him, obvs». Is it?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** standing, mate · **What happens:** stand, mean, fight, be · **To what, where:** obvs · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 370 «Standing by a friend» 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/370-standing-by-a-friend/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «standing by a mate means fighting for him, obvs».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:370-standing-by-a-friend:t9:1
# text = «standing by a mate means fighting for him, obvs».
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	csubj	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	fighting	fight	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	xcomp	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	obvs	obv	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | by a mate | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by mate=Location |
| 2 | **mean** *in a quote* | present | standing |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **fight** *not said to happen, in a quote* | gerund | standing *not said here* | obvs |  |  |  | for him *= he* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Is it?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:370-standing-by-a-friend:t9:2
# text = Is it?
1	Is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | mate |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, real friends always fight for each other

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:370-standing-by-a-friend:t9:o1:1
# text = Yes, real friends always fight for each other
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
6	fight	fight	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	6	obl	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight** | present | real friends |  |  |  |  | for each; always *property* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but only if he's smaller

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:370-standing-by-a-friend:t9:o2:1
# text = Yes, but only if he's smaller
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	smaller	small	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	1	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it means leaving him alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:370-standing-by-a-friend:t9:o3:1
# text = No, it means leaving him alone
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	leaving	leave	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **leave** *not said to happen* | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it means being with him and on his side

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:370-standing-by-a-friend:t9:o4:1
# text = No, it means being with him and on his side
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with him *= he* | tree rules |

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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: [Standing by a friend, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/370-standing-by-a-friend/t8/)
- next →: [Standing by a friend, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/370-standing-by-a-friend/t10/)
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