---
title: What would happen if a family just stopped paying council tax? — Bills: rent, mortgage, energy, water,… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a family just stopped paying council tax? Test 5 of lesson 21 «Bills: rent, mortgage, energy, water, phone, council tax» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 5 · Bills: rent, mortgage, energy, water, phone, council tax

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a family just stopped paying council tax?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** family · **What happens:** happen, stop, pay · **To what, where:** council tax

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 21 «Bills: rent, mortgage, energy, water, phone, council tax» 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/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax:t5:1
# text = What would happen if a family just stopped paying council tax?
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	_	8	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	just	just	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
9	paying	pay	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	xcomp	_	_
10	council	council	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	tax	tax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	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 | **stop** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a family |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **pay** | gerund | a family *not said here* | council tax |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tax=Asset |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They'd get reminders and fines, and the law can make them pay

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax:t5:o1:1
# text = They'd get reminders and fines, and the law can make them pay
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	reminders	reminder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	fines	fine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | would | They | reminders and fines |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer reminder=Stimulus |
| 2 | **make** | can | the law | reminders *= reminder* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **pay** | infinitive | reminders *= reminder* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only their own bin would be skipped, nothing else

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax:t5:o2:1
# text = Only their own bin would be skipped, nothing else
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
2	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	bin	bin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	skipped	skip	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	obj	_	_
10	else	else	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **skip** | would · passive |  | their own bin |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing at all, because paying council tax is optional for families

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax:t5:o3:1
# text = Nothing at all, because paying council tax is optional for families
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	paying	pay	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	csubj	_	_
7	council	council	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	tax	tax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	optional	optional	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | gerund |  | council tax |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tax=Asset |
| 2 | **is** | present | paying |  |  |  |  | for families; optional *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The council would send them a refund instead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:money:21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax:t5:o4:1
# text = The council would send them a refund instead
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	council	council	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	refund	refund	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | would | the council | them *= they* |  |  |  | instead *property* | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Destination refund=Theme |

<!-- 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 -->

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- ← previous: [Bills: rent, mortgage, energy, water,…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/t4/)
- next →: [Bills: rent, mortgage, energy, water,…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Bills: rent, mortgage, energy, water, phone, council tax](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/)