---
title: State the minimum age at which a child may be charged with a crimina… — When the police come · tree and pragmatics
description: State the minimum age at which a child may be charged with a criminal offence in England and Wales. Exam question 3 of lesson 384 «When the police come» 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 righ
---

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# Exam question 3 · When the police come

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the minimum age at which a child may be charged with a criminal offence in England and Wales.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** charge · **To what, where:** child, minimum age

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 384 «When the police come» 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/384-when-the-police-come/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:384-when-the-police-come:e3:1
# text = State the minimum age at which a child may be charged with a criminal offence in England and Wales.
1	State	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	minimum	minimum	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	charged	charge	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	criminal	criminal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	offence	offence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	England	England	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	Wales	Wales	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **charge** | may · passive |  | a child |  |  | at the minimum age | with a criminal offence in England and Wales | vn equip-13.4.2 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: subject=Recipient with offence=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ten years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:384-when-the-police-come:e3:o1:1
# text = Ten years
1	Ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Five years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:384-when-the-police-come:e3:o2:1
# text = Five years
1	Five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Eighteen years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:384-when-the-police-come:e3:o3:1
# text = Eighteen years
1	Eighteen	eighteen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sixteen years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:384-when-the-police-come:e3:o4:1
# text = Sixteen years
1	Sixteen	sixteen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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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