---
title: Politician: «I never said that!» A reporter has a recording. What se… — Politicians and promises, as the news… · tree and pragmatics
description: Politician: «I never said that!» A reporter has a recording. What settles it best? Test 11 · ★★ 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 pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choic
---

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# Test 11 · ★★ · Politicians and promises, as the news reports them

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Politician: «I never said that!» A reporter has a recording. What settles it best?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** I, reporter · **What happens:** not say, have, settle · **To what, where:** that, recording · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 442 «Politicians and promises, as the news reports them» 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/442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Politician: «I never said that!»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t11:1
# text = Politician: «I never said that!»
1	Politician	politician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | I | that |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent that=Topic |

<!-- .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:* A reporter has a recording.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t11:2
# text = A reporter has a recording.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	reporter	reporter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	recording	recording	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | a reporter | a recording |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent recording=Patient |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What settles it best?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t11:3
# text = What settles it best?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	settles	settle	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	best	well	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **settle** | present |  | recording |  |  |  | well *property* | vn odge-46-1 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme it=Location |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Asking his best friend

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t11:o1:1
# text = Asking his best friend
1	Asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	amod	_	_
4	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund |  |  | his best friend |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent friend=Recipient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Playing the recording

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t11:o2:1
# text = Playing the recording
1	Playing	play	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	recording	recording	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | gerund |  | the recording |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent recording=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Waiting a year or two to see

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t11:o3:1
# text = Waiting a year or two to see
1	Waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	conj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | gerund |  |  |  |  | year |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Counting who believes him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t11:o4:1
# text = Counting who believes him
1	Counting	count	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	nsubj	_	_
2	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
3	believes	believe	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **count** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **believe** | present |  | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |

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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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<!-- pn -->
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- next →: [Politicians and promises, as the news…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them/e1/)
- ↑ 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/)