---
title: Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning… — Cold parents: always on the phone · tree and pragmatics
description: Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning parents who seldom speak. Exam question 4 of lesson 495 «Cold parents: always on the phone» 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 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Cold parents: always on the phone

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning parents who seldom speak.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, established facts, parents · **What happens:** select, establish, concern, speak · **To what, where:** response, parents · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 495 «Cold parents: always on the phone» 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/495-cold-parents-always-on-the-phone/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:495-cold-parents-always-on-the-phone:e4:1
# text = Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning parents who seldom speak.
1	Select	select	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	response	response	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	xcomp	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	established	establish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	facts	fact	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
12	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	speak	speak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **select** | imperative | you *not said here* | the response |  |  |  | consistent *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme |
| 2 | **establish** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **concern** | gerund | the established facts *not said here* | parents |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus parent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | parents |  |  |  |  | seldom *property* | vn talk-37.5 «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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Some express love through shared time rather than words

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:495-cold-parents-always-on-the-phone:e4:o1:1
# text = Some express love through shared time rather than words
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
2	express	express	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	love	love	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	shared	share	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	amod	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	9	cc	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	fixed	_	_
9	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **share** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They speak seldom because their children are uninteresting

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:495-cold-parents-always-on-the-phone:e4:o2:1
# text = They speak seldom because their children are uninteresting
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	speak	speak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	uninteresting	uninteresting	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | They |  |  |  |  | seldom *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | their children |  |  |  |  | uninteresting *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are prohibited from speaking whilst engaged in fishing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:495-cold-parents-always-on-the-phone:e4:o3:1
# text = They are prohibited from speaking whilst engaged in fishing
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	xcomp	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	fishing	fishing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prohibit** | present · passive |  | They |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  | fishing |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **engage** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All of them are indifferent to the welfare of their children

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:495-cold-parents-always-on-the-phone:e4:o4:1
# text = All of them are indifferent to the welfare of their children
1	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nmod	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	indifferent	indifferent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	welfare	welfare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | All |  |  |  |  | to the welfare of their children; indifferent *property* | 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 -->

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- ← previous: [Cold parents: always on the phone, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/495-cold-parents-always-on-the-phone/e3/)
- next →: [Parents who row, and one kind and one…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/496-parents-who-row-and-one-kind-and-one-not/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Cold parents: always on the phone](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/495-cold-parents-always-on-the-phone/)