---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises verb… — Rival teams and the older bully · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises verbal abuse directed at a child by an adult spectator at a sporting fixture? Exam question 4 of lesson 472 «Rival teams and the older bully» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of th
---

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# Exam question 4 · Rival teams and the older bully

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises verbal abuse directed at a child by an adult spectator at a sporting fixture?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris, direct, sport · **To what, where:** verbal abuse

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 472 «Rival teams and the older bully» 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/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully:e4:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises verbal abuse directed at a child by an adult spectator at a sporting fixture?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	verbal	verbal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	abuse	abuse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	directed	direct	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	adult	adult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	spectator	spectator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	sporting	sport	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	amod	_	_
22	fixture	fixture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | verbal abuse |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **direct** | participle |  | verbal abuse *not said here* |  |  |  | at a child; by a adult spectator at a sporting fixture | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.predicate»: agent=Agent at child=Eventuality |
| 4 | **sport** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
The child is responsible for having provoked it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully:e4:o1:1
# text = The child is responsible for having provoked it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	responsible	responsible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	aux	_	_
7	provoked	provoke	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the child |  |  |  |  | responsible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **provoke** | gerund · perfect | the child *not said here* | child |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus it=Experiencer |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Responsibility lies with the adult and not the child

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully:e4:o2:1
# text = Responsibility lies with the adult and not the child
1	Responsibility	responsibility	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lies	lie	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	adult	adult	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | present | Responsibility |  |  |  |  | with the adult and the child | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The referee is obliged to disregard it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully:e4:o3:1
# text = The referee is obliged to disregard it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	referee	referee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	disregard	disregard	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **oblige** | present · passive |  | the referee |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 2 | **disregard** | to-infinitive |  | referee |  |  |  |  | vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Such conduct is customary and acceptable

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully:e4:o4:1
# text = Such conduct is customary and acceptable
1	Such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	conduct	conduct	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	customary	customary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	acceptable	acceptable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | conduct customary |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Rival teams and the older bully, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/e3/)
- next →: [The ball over the fence and the grumpy…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Rival teams and the older bully](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/)