---
title: What would happen if nobody ever checked "was" prices? — Unit prices and sales that are not rea… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if nobody ever checked "was" prices? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 13 «Unit prices and sales that are not really sales» of the money 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 · ★★ · Unit prices and sales that are not really sales

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if nobody ever checked "was" prices?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** nobody · **What happens:** happen, check, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 13 «Unit prices and sales that are not really sales» of the money 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/money/13-unit-prices-and-sales-that-are-not-really-sales/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:13-unit-prices-and-sales-that-are-not-really-sales:t9:1
# text = What would happen if nobody ever checked "was" prices?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	nsubj	_	_
6	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	7	advmod	_	_
7	checked	check	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
11	prices	price	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **check** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | nobody |  |  |  | ever |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **be** *in a quote* | past | nobody *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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 -->
Shops could raise prices before sales and fake big discounts

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:13-unit-prices-and-sales-that-are-not-really-sales:t9:o1:1
# text = Shops could raise prices before sales and fake big discounts
1	Shops	shop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	raise	raise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	prices	price	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	before	before	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	sales	sale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	fake	fake	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	discounts	discount	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **raise** | could | Shops | prices |  | sales and fake big discounts |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent price=Theme before sale=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Prices would always fall by half

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:13-unit-prices-and-sales-that-are-not-really-sales:t9:o2:1
# text = Prices would always fall by half
1	Prices	price	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | would | Prices |  |  |  |  | by half; always *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by half=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Every price would become fair

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:13-unit-prices-and-sales-that-are-not-really-sales:t9:o3:1
# text = Every price would become fair
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	price	price	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | would | every price |  |  |  |  | fair *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sales would stop happening

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:13-unit-prices-and-sales-that-are-not-really-sales:t9:o4:1
# text = Sales would stop happening
1	Sales	sale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	happening	happen	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | Sales |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **happen** | gerund | Sales *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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: [Unit prices and sales that are not rea…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/money/13-unit-prices-and-sales-that-are-not-really-sales/t8/)
- next →: [Unit prices and sales that are not rea…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/money/13-unit-prices-and-sales-that-are-not-really-sales/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Unit prices and sales that are not really sales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/money/13-unit-prices-and-sales-that-are-not-really-sales/)