---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Manners and kindness · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the effect of saying «please»? Exam question 1 of lesson 51 «Manners and kindness» 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 was right.
---

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# Exam question 1 · Manners and kindness

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the effect of saying «please»?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** effect · **What happens:** follow, characteris, say · **To what, where:** effect · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 51 «Manners and kindness» 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/51-manners-and-kindness/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:51-manners-and-kindness:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the effect of saying «please»?
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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	effect	effect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	saying	say	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
13	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	please	please	INTJ	UH	_	12	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	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 |  | the effect |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the effect *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It converts an order into a polite request

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:51-manners-and-kindness:e1:o1:1
# text = It converts an order into a polite request
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	converts	convert	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **convert** | present | It | a order |  |  |  | into a polite request *result* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent order=Patient into request=Result |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It obliges the listener to comply at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:51-manners-and-kindness:e1:o2:1
# text = It obliges the listener to comply at once
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	obliges	oblige	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	listener	listener	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	comply	comply	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **oblige** | present | It | the listener |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent listener=Patient |
| 2 | **comply** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It signifies that the speaker is angry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:51-manners-and-kindness:e1:o3:1
# text = It signifies that the speaker is angry
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	signifies	signify	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	speaker	speaker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **signify** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 2 | **is** | present | the speaker |  |  |  |  | angry *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has no effect upon the meaning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:51-manners-and-kindness:e1:o4:1
# text = It has no effect upon the meaning
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	effect	effect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | It | no effect |  |  |  | upon the meaning | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effect=Patient |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Manners and kindness, test 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/51-manners-and-kindness/t22/)
- next →: [Manners and kindness, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/51-manners-and-kindness/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Manners and kindness](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/51-manners-and-kindness/)