---
title: Why does facing a fear in small steps work? — Facing fears · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does facing a fear in small steps work? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 90 «Facing fears» 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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# Test 9 · ★ · Facing fears

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does facing a fear in small steps work?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** face, work · **To what, where:** fear

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 90 «Facing fears» 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/90-facing-fears/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:90-facing-fears:t9:1
# text = Why does facing a fear in small steps work?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	facing	face	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	csubj	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
9	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **face** | present · do-support |  | a fear |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme fear=Destination |
| 2 | **work** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in small steps | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in step=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Courage grows a little each time you succeed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:90-facing-fears:t9:o1:1
# text = Courage grows a little each time you succeed
1	Courage	courage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	_
5	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	succeed	succeed	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | Courage | a little |  |  | time |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location little=Theme |
| 2 | **succeed** | present | you | each time *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is quicker than doing it all at once, so the fear has no time

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:90-facing-fears:t9:o2:1
# text = It is quicker than doing it all at once, so the fear has no time
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	quicker	quick	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	all	all	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
16	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | quick *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | gerund |  | it |  |  |  | once *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 3 | **have** | present | the fear |  |  |  | time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fear disappears the moment you start

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:90-facing-fears:t9:o3:1
# text = Fear disappears the moment you start
1	Fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	disappears	disappear	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	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	start	start	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **disappear** | present | Fear |  |  |  | moment |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **start** | present | you | the moment *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent moment=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Small steps make the danger bigger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:90-facing-fears:t9:o4:1
# text = Small steps make the danger bigger
1	Small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Small steps | the danger |  |  |  | big *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset danger=Product |

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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: [Facing fears, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/90-facing-fears/t8/)
- next →: [Facing fears, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/90-facing-fears/t10/)
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