---
title: A boy in Texas needs to talk to someone in private but cannot tell h… — Mistakes, asking for help and saying no · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy in Texas needs to talk to someone in private but cannot tell his family. Which number can he call? Test 3 of lesson 99 «Mistakes, asking for help and saying no» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's c
---

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# Test 3 · Mistakes, asking for help and saying no

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy in Texas needs to talk to someone in private but cannot tell his family. Which number can he call?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** boy, number · **What happens:** need, talk, not tell, call · **To what, where:** family · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 of lesson 99 «Mistakes, asking for help and saying no» 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/99-mistakes-asking-for-help-and-saying-no/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy in Texas needs to talk to someone in private but cannot tell his family.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:99-mistakes-asking-for-help-and-saying-no:t3:1
# text = A boy in Texas needs to talk to someone in private but cannot tell his family.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Texas	Texas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	7	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	private	private	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	nmod	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | a boy in Texas |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **talk** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a boy in Texas *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to someone | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to someone=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | can | a boy in Texas *not said here* | boy's family |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent family=Recipient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Which number can he call?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:99-mistakes-asking-for-help-and-saying-no:t3:2
# text = Which number can he call?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | can | which number |  |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
999

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:99-mistakes-asking-for-help-and-saying-no:t3:o1:1
# text = 999
1	999	999	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
000

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:99-mistakes-asking-for-help-and-saying-no:t3:o2:1
# text = 000
1	000	000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
988

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:99-mistakes-asking-for-help-and-saying-no:t3:o3:1
# text = 988
1	988	988	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
111

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:99-mistakes-asking-for-help-and-saying-no:t3:o4:1
# text = 111
1	111	111	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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: [Mistakes, asking for help and saying no, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/99-mistakes-asking-for-help-and-saying-no/t2/)
- next →: [Mistakes, asking for help and saying no, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/99-mistakes-asking-for-help-and-saying-no/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Mistakes, asking for help and saying no](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/99-mistakes-asking-for-help-and-saying-no/)