---
title: Identify the principal reason for which two public figures may cite… — Politicians and promises, as the news… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which two public figures may cite the same body of statistics in support of contrary conclusions. Exam question 1 of lesson 442 «Politicians and promises, as the news reports them» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmat
---

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# Exam question 1 · Politicians and promises, as the news reports them

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which two public figures may cite the same body of statistics in support of contrary conclusions.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, two public figures · **What happens:** identify, cite, support · **To what, where:** principal reason, same body, support, contrary conclusions

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 442 «Politicians and promises, as the news reports them» 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/442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which two public figures may cite the same body of statistics in support of contrary conclusions.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
7	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
8	public	public	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	cite	cite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	statistics	statistic	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	support	support	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	contrary	contrary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	conclusions	conclusion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **cite** | may | two public figures | the same body of statistics |  | support of contrary conclusions |  | for the principal reason | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent body=Theme for which=Attribute |
| 3 | **support** |  |  | contrary conclusions |  |  |  |  | nom support «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
Statistics are invariably fabricated

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:e1:o1:1
# text = Statistics are invariably fabricated
1	Statistics	statistic	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	fabricated	fabricated	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each selects the period or portion most favourable to his case

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:e1:o2:1
# text = Each selects the period or portion most favourable to his case
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	nsubj	_	_
2	selects	select	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	portion	portion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	8	advmod	_	_
8	favourable	favourable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
9	to	to	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	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **select** | present | Each | the period or portion |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent period=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Statistical data cannot be compared

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:e1:o3:1
# text = Statistical data cannot be compared
1	Statistical	statistical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	data	data	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	compared	compare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **compare** | can · passive |  | Statistical data |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only one of them is able to read figures, the other guessing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:e1:o4:1
# text = Only one of them is able to read figures, the other guessing
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	read	read	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	guessing	guessing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | one of them |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **read** | to-infinitive | one of them *not said here* | figures |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent figure=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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- ← previous: [Politicians and promises, as the news…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them/t11/)
- next →: [Politicians and promises, as the news…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Politicians and promises, as the news reports them](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them/)