---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Viral facts and chain messages · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the efficacy of a message threatening misfortune upon a failure to forward it? Exam question 1 of lesson 25 «Viral facts and chain messages» of the myths course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the qu
---

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# Exam question 1 · Viral facts and chain messages

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the efficacy of a message threatening misfortune upon a failure to forward it?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** message · **What happens:** follow, characteris, threaten, forward · **To what, where:** efficacy, misfortune

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 25 «Viral facts and chain messages» of the myths 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/myths/25-viral-facts-and-chain-messages/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:25-viral-facts-and-chain-messages:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the efficacy of a message threatening misfortune upon a failure to forward it?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	efficacy	efficacy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	threatening	threaten	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
15	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
16	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	failure	failure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	forward	forward	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the efficacy of a message |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **threaten** | gerund | a message *not said here* | misfortune |  |  |  | upon a failure | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus misfortune=Experiencer |
| 4 | **forward** | to-infinitive | a message *not said here* | misfortune |  |  |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its efficacy is proportional to the number of recipients

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:25-viral-facts-and-chain-messages:e1:o1:1
# text = Its efficacy is proportional to the number of recipients
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	efficacy	efficacy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	proportional	proportional	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	recipients	recipient	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Its efficacy |  |  |  |  | to the number of recipients; proportional *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It occasions misfortune solely upon its deletion

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:25-viral-facts-and-chain-messages:e1:o2:1
# text = It occasions misfortune solely upon its deletion
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	occasions	occasion	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
5	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	deletion	deletion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **occasion** | present | It | misfortune |  |  |  | upon misfortune's deletion; solely *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **delete** |  | misfortune |  |  |  |  |  | nom deletion «process transitive»: poss=agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It possesses no capacity whatsoever to cause misfortune

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:25-viral-facts-and-chain-messages:e1:o3:1
# text = It possesses no capacity whatsoever to cause misfortune
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	possesses	possess	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	capacity	capacity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	cause	cause	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
8	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | It | no capacity |  |  |  | whatsoever *property* | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot capacity=Theme |
| 2 | **cause** | to-infinitive |  | misfortune |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition misfortune=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It occasions misfortune unless forwarded to ten recipients

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:25-viral-facts-and-chain-messages:e1:o4:1
# text = It occasions misfortune unless forwarded to ten recipients
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	occasions	occasion	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	forwarded	forward	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	recipients	recipient	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **occasion** | present | It | misfortune |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **forward** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle |  |  |  | ten recipients |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to recipient=Destination |

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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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- ← previous: [Viral facts and chain messages, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/25-viral-facts-and-chain-messages/t10/)
- next →: [Viral facts and chain messages, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/25-viral-facts-and-chain-messages/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Viral facts and chain messages](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/25-viral-facts-and-chain-messages/)