---
title: Your teacher asks, "Should prisoners vote?" A classmate says, "Obvs… — Who can vote, and why children cannot · tree and pragmatics
description: Your teacher asks, "Should prisoners vote?" A classmate says, "Obvs not, no country lets them." What's wrong? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 3 «Who can vote, and why children cannot» of the politics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mo
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Who can vote, and why children cannot

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your teacher asks, "Should prisoners vote?" A classmate says, "Obvs not, no country lets them." What's wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** teacher, prisoners, classmate, country · **What happens:** ask, vote, not say, let, be · **To what, where:** Obvs · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 3 «Who can vote, and why children cannot» of the politics 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/politics/3-who-can-vote-and-why-children-cannot/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your teacher asks, "Should prisoners vote?"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:3-who-can-vote-and-why-children-cannot:t8:1
# text = Your teacher asks, "Should prisoners vote?"
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	prisoners	prisoner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	vote	vote	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | Your teacher |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **vote** *in a quote* | should | prisoners |  |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* A classmate says, "Obvs not, no country lets them."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:3-who-can-vote-and-why-children-cannot:t8:2
# text = A classmate says, "Obvs not, no country lets them."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	classmate	classmate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Obvs	obv	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
10	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	lets	let	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* | present | a classmate | Obvs |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **let** *in a quote* | present | no country | Obvs *= obv* |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What's wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:3-who-can-vote-and-why-children-cannot:t8:3
# text = What's wrong?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, no country has ever let them vote

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:3-who-can-vote-and-why-children-cannot:t8:o1:1
# text = Nothing, no country has ever let them vote
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
5	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	7	advmod	_	_
7	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	vote	vote	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | present | Nothing | them *= they* |  |  | ever |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **vote** | infinitive | them *= they* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Every country forces prisoners to vote

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:3-who-can-vote-and-why-children-cannot:t8:o2:1
# text = Every country forces prisoners to vote
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	det	_	_
2	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	forces	force	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	compound	_	_
4	prisoners	prisoner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	vote	vote	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vote** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Prisoners can only vote for the prison guards who look after them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:3-who-can-vote-and-why-children-cannot:t8:o3:1
# text = Prisoners can only vote for the prison guards who look after them
1	Prisoners	prisoner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	vote	vote	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	prison	prison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	guards	guard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	after	after	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vote** | can | Prisoners |  |  |  |  | for the prison guards *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent for guard=Goal |
| 2 | **look** | present | the prison guards |  |  |  | after Prisoners *= prisoner* |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Some countries, like Ireland and Canada, do let them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:3-who-can-vote-and-why-children-cannot:t8:o4:1
# text = Some countries, like Ireland and Canada, do let them
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	det	_	_
2	countries	country	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	Canada	Canada	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
9	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | present · do-support | some countries like Ireland and Canada | Ireland |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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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