---
title: If a government says sorry for taking children from families, why mi… — Australia and New Zealand: a short story · tree and pragmatics
description: If a government says sorry for taking children from families, why might that matter even years later? Test 5 · ★★★ of lesson 40 «Australia and New Zealand: a short story» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova'
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/t5/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [History](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/) / [Australia and New Zealand: a short story](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/) / t5

# Test 5 · ★★★ · Australia and New Zealand: a short story

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If a government says sorry for taking children from families, why might that matter even years later?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** government, that · **What happens:** say, take, matter · **To what, where:** children, families · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★★★ of lesson 40 «Australia and New Zealand: a short story» of the history 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/history/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t5:1
# text = If a government says sorry for taking children from families, why might that matter even years later?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	government	government	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
8	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
13	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj	_	_
15	matter	matter	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
16	even	even	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl:unmarked	_	_
18	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: apologize* | present | a government |  |  |  |  | sorry *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **take** | gerund | a government *not said here* | children |  | families |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent child=Theme from family=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **matter** | might | that |  |  |  |  | late *property* | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 -->
It brings back the gold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t5:o1:1
# text = It brings back the gold
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	brings	bring	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	back	back	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bring back** | present | It | the gold |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent gold=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It changes nothing at all, because words cannot ever matter after so long

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t5:o2:1
# text = It changes nothing at all, because words cannot ever matter after so long
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	changes	change	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	obj	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
9	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	12	advmod	_	_
12	matter	matter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
13	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | present | It | nothing |  | all |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **matter** | can | words |  |  |  | ever | long *property* | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Many of those children and their families are still alive and hurting

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t5:o3:1
# text = Many of those children and their families are still alive and hurting
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	still	still	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	hurting	hurt	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | children's families |  |  |  | still | alive *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hurt** | gerund | children's families *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is only a formality

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t5:o4:1
# text = It is only a formality
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	formality	formality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Australia and New Zealand: a short story, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/t4/)
- next →: [Australia and New Zealand: a short story, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Australia and New Zealand: a short story](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/)