---
title: Whereas a person alters his view upon receipt of new information, de… — Arguing politely and never calling names · tree and pragmatics
description: Whereas a person alters his view upon receipt of new information, determine the characterisation most consistent with this lesson. Exam question 4 of lesson 39 «Arguing politely and never calling names» of the politics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the q
---

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# Exam question 4 · Arguing politely and never calling names

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whereas a person alters his view upon receipt of new information, determine the characterisation most consistent with this lesson.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** person, you · **What happens:** alter, determine, view, receipt · **To what, where:** view, characterisation, new information

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 39 «Arguing politely and never calling names» of the politics 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/politics/39-arguing-politely-and-never-calling-names/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:39-arguing-politely-and-never-calling-names:e4:1
# text = Whereas a person alters his view upon receipt of new information, determine the characterisation most consistent with this lesson.
1	Whereas	whereas	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	alters	alter	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	view	view	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	receipt	receipt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	information	information	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	determine	determine	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	characterisation	characterisation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	17	advmod	_	_
17	consistent	consistent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	det	_	_
20	lesson	lesson	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **alter** | present | a person | person's view |  |  |  | upon receipt of new information | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent view=Patient |
| 2 | **determine** | imperative | you *not said here* | the characterisation |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent characterisation=Topic |
| 3 | **view** |  | person |  |  |  |  |  | nom view «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |
| 4 | **receipt** |  |  | new information |  |  |  |  | nom receipt «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
It is evidence of reasoning rather than of weakness

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:39-arguing-politely-and-never-calling-names:e4:o1:1
# text = It is evidence of reasoning rather than of weakness
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	evidence	evidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	reasoning	reasoning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	9	cc	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
9	weakness	weakness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | evidence rather weakness |  |  |  | of reasoning | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is permissible for adults only

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:39-arguing-politely-and-never-calling-names:e4:o2:1
# text = It is permissible for adults only
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	permissible	permissible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	adults	adult	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is evidence that he did not attend to the information

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:39-arguing-politely-and-never-calling-names:e4:o3:1
# text = It is evidence that he did not attend to the information
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	evidence	evidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	attend	attend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	acl	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	information	information	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | evidence |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **attend** | past · do-support | he | evidence *not said here* |  |  |  | to the information | vn attend-107.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme evidence=Goal |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is evidence of dishonesty in his former view

```conllu
# sent_id = question:politics:39-arguing-politely-and-never-calling-names:e4:o4:1
# text = It is evidence of dishonesty in his former view
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	evidence	evidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	dishonesty	dishonesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	view	view	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | evidence |  |  |  | of dishonesty in his former view | tree rules |
| 2 | **view** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom view «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

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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: [Arguing politely and never calling names, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/politics/39-arguing-politely-and-never-calling-names/e3/)
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- ↑ back to [Arguing politely and never calling names](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/politics/39-arguing-politely-and-never-calling-names/)