---
title: Ava says if a grown-up says it, it must be true. right? — Thinking cleverly about people · tree and pragmatics
description: Ava says if a grown-up says it, it must be true. right? Test 16 · ★★★ of lesson 60 «Thinking cleverly about people» 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 16 · ★★★ · Thinking cleverly about people

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ava says if a grown-up says it, it must be true. right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Ava, grown up, up · **What happens:** say, grow, be · **To what, where:** it · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 16 · ★★★ of lesson 60 «Thinking cleverly about people» 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/60-reasoning-about-people/#t16).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:60-reasoning-about-people:t16:1
# text = Ava says if a grown-up says it, it must be true. right?
1	Ava	Ava	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	up	up	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	cop	_	_
14	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
16	right	right	INTJ	UH	_	2	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Ava |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **grow** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | a grown up | it |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 4 | **is** | must | up |  |  |  |  | true *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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, adults never lie

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:60-reasoning-about-people:t16:o1:1
# text = Yes, adults never lie
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	adults	adult	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	lie	lie	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **lie** | present | adults |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, adults can be wrong or lie too

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:60-reasoning-about-people:t16:o2:1
# text = No, adults can be wrong or lie too
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	adults	adult	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
6	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
9	too	too	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | can | adults |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **lie** | infinitive | adults *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, unless they are strangers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:60-reasoning-about-people:t16:o3:1
# text = Yes, unless they are strangers
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	strangers	stranger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, they are older

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:60-reasoning-about-people:t16:o4:1
# text = Yes, they are older
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | they |  |  |  |  | old *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: [Thinking cleverly about people, test 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/60-reasoning-about-people/t15/)
- next →: [Thinking cleverly about people, test 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/60-reasoning-about-people/t17/)
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