---
title: Sam: «Grandad's old so he must know best?» Best reply? — «Just hit him back» or «tell a teacher… · tree and pragmatics
description: Sam: «Grandad's old so he must know best?» Best reply? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 391 ««Just hit him back» or «tell a teacher»? What the grown-ups say» 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 right.
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · «Just hit him back» or «tell a teacher»? What the grown-up…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sam: «Grandad's old so he must know best?» Best reply?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Sam · **What happens:** know

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 391 ««Just hit him back» or «tell a teacher»? What the grown-ups say» 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/391-just-hit-him-back-or-tell-a-teacher/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Sam: «Grandad's old so he must know best?»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:391-just-hit-him-back-or-tell-a-teacher:t9:1
# text = Sam: «Grandad's old so he must know best?»
1	Sam	Sam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	Grandad	Grandad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
11	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** *in a quote* | must | Sam |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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:* Best reply?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:391-just-hit-him-back-or-tell-a-teacher:t9:2
# text = Best reply?
1	Best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	2	amod	_	_
2	reply	reply	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Grown-ups can be wrong; listen kindly, choose the safer way

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:391-just-hit-him-back-or-tell-a-teacher:t9:o1:1
# text = Grown-ups can be wrong; listen kindly, choose the safer way
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	6	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
6	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
8	listen	listen	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
9	kindly	kindly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	choose	choose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	safer	safe	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	14	amod	_	_
14	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	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 | **is** | can | Grown ups |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **listen** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | kindly *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **choose** | infinitive |  | the safer way |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Old people are always wrong

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:391-just-hit-him-back-or-tell-a-teacher:t9:o2:1
# text = Old people are always wrong
1	Old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Old people are always right about everything

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:391-just-hit-him-back-or-tell-a-teacher:t9:o3:1
# text = Old people are always right about everything
1	Old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Old people |  |  |  |  | about everything; always, right *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Do what the oldest person in the family says

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:391-just-hit-him-back-or-tell-a-teacher:t9:o4:1
# text = Do what the oldest person in the family says
1	Do	do	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	oldest	old	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the oldest person in the family |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- 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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- ↑ back to [«Just hit him back» or «tell a teacher»? What the grown-ups say](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/391-just-hit-him-back-or-tell-a-teacher/)