---
title: Identify the principal reason for which the expression «boosts the i… — Mum's vitamin and cod-liver oil · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which the expression «boosts the immune system» in commercial advertising warrants scepticism. Exam question 4 of lesson 22 «Mum's vitamin and cod-liver oil» of the medicine course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and
---

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# Exam question 4 · Mum's vitamin and cod-liver oil

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which the expression «boosts the immune system» in commercial advertising warrants scepticism.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, expression · **What happens:** identify, boost, warrant · **To what, where:** principal reason, immune system, scepticism, commercial advertising · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 22 «Mum's vitamin and cod-liver oil» of the medicine course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:medicine:22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil:e4:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which the expression «boosts the immune system» in commercial advertising warrants scepticism.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	boosts	boost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	immune	immune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	system	system	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	commercial	commercial	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	advertising	advertising	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
18	warrants	warrant	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
19	scepticism	scepticism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **boost** *in a quote* | present | the expression | the immune system |  |  |  | for the principal reason | vn promote-102 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent system=Theme |
| 3 | **warrant** | present | the expression *not said here* | scepticism |  | commercial advertising |  |  | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a marketing phrase and not an established medical claim

```conllu
# sent_id = question:medicine:22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil:e4:o1:1
# text = It is a marketing phrase and not an established medical claim
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	marketing	marketing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	phrase	phrase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	established	establish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	amod	_	_
10	medical	medical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	claim	claim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a marketing phrase and a established medical claim |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **establish** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It refers exclusively to adults

```conllu
# sent_id = question:medicine:22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil:e4:o2:1
# text = It refers exclusively to adults
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	refers	refer	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	adults	adult	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **refer** | present | It |  |  |  |  | to adults; exclusively *property* | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to adult=Co-Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is prohibited by medical law

```conllu
# sent_id = question:medicine:22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil:e4:o3:1
# text = It is prohibited by medical law
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	medical	medical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prohibit** | present · passive | medical law | It |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It denotes a prescription-only medicine

```conllu
# sent_id = question:medicine:22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil:e4:o4:1
# text = It denotes a prescription-only medicine
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	denotes	denote	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	prescription	prescription	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	medicine	medicine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **denote** | present | It | a prescription medicine |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot medicine=Topic |

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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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