---
title: What would most likely happen if Callum's parents had told him when… — Adoption · tree and pragmatics
description: What would most likely happen if Callum's parents had told him when he was tiny? Test 2 of lesson 522 «Adoption» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 2 · Adoption

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would most likely happen if Callum's parents had told him when he was tiny?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Callum · **What happens:** happen, tell, be · **To what, where:** parents, Callum · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 of lesson 522 «Adoption» 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/522-adoption/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:522-adoption:t2:1
# text = What would most likely happen if Callum's parents had told him when he was tiny?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	4	advmod	_	_
4	likely	likely	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	Callum	Callum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	iobj	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | Callum's parents | Callum |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient he=Topic |
| 3 | **is** *not said to happen* | past | Callum |  |  |  |  | tiny *property* | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His cousin would never have known

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:522-adoption:t2:o1:1
# text = His cousin would never have known
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	cousin	cousin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux	_	_
6	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | would · perfect · passive |  | His cousin |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He would never be curious at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:522-adoption:t2:o2:1
# text = He would never be curious at all
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | would | He |  |  | all |  | curious *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It wouldn't have been such a shock

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:522-adoption:t2:o3:1
# text = It wouldn't have been such a shock
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	cop	_	_
6	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	8	det:predet	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	shock	shock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | would | It | such shock |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He would have been even angrier at nine

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:522-adoption:t2:o4:1
# text = He would have been even angrier at nine
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	cop	_	_
5	even	even	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	angrier	angry	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would · perfect | He |  |  | nine |  | angry *property* | tree rules |

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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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- ← previous: [Adoption, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/522-adoption/t1/)
- next →: [Adoption, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/522-adoption/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Adoption](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/522-adoption/)

