---
title: In a cartoon, the bad mayor twirls his moustache so everyone knows h… — Politicians and promises, as the news… · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon, the bad mayor twirls his moustache so everyone knows he's lying. What is real life more like? Test 8 · ★★ 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 e
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Politicians and promises, as the news reports them

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon, the bad mayor twirls his moustache so everyone knows he's lying. What is real life more like?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** bad mayor, everyone, mayor · **What happens:** twirl, know, lie, be · **To what, where:** moustache, cartoon, real life · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon, the bad mayor twirls his moustache so everyone knows he's lying.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t8:1
# text = In a cartoon, the bad mayor twirls his moustache so everyone knows he's lying.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	mayor	mayor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	twirls	twirl	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	moustache	moustache	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	13	nsubj	_	_
13	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **twirl** | present | the bad mayor | mayor's moustache |  | a cartoon |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent moustache=Material |
| 2 | **know** | present | everyone |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **lie** | present · progressive | mayor |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «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:* What is real life more like?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t8:2
# text = What is real life more like?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	1	advmod	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Honest people always smile more than liars do

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t8:o1:1
# text = Honest people always smile more than liars do
1	Honest	honest	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	smile	smile	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	obj	_	_
6	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	liars	liar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smile** | present | Honest people | more |  |  |  | always *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | present | liars |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You have to check what people said and did

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t8:o2:1
# text = You have to check what people said and did
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	check	check	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | You |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **check** | to-infinitive | You *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 4 | **do** | past | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Liars always have moustaches

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t8:o3:1
# text = Liars always have moustaches
1	Liars	liar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	moustaches	moustache	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Liars always look at the floor

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:442-politicians-and-promises-as-the-news-reports-them:t8:o4:1
# text = Liars always look at the floor
1	Liars	liar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | present | Liars |  |  |  |  | at the floor; always *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at floor=Theme |

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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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