---
title: Kofi's mate says, "my dad calls me useless too, it's just how dads t… — Hard things at home: broken promises,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Kofi's mate says, "my dad calls me useless too, it's just how dads talk." What's the truth? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 13 «Hard things at home: broken promises, silence, money and illness» of the reflection course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of ea
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · Hard things at home: broken promises, silence, money and i…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Kofi's mate says, "my dad calls me useless too, it's just how dads talk." What's the truth?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** mate, dad, truth · **What happens:** say, call, be · **To what, where:** mate · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 13 «Hard things at home: broken promises, silence, money and illness» of the reflection 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/reflection/13-hard-things-at-home-broken-promises-silence-money-and-illness/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Kofi's mate says, "my dad calls me useless too, it's just how dads talk."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:13-hard-things-at-home-broken-promises-silence-money-and-illness:t9:1
# text = Kofi's mate says, "my dad calls me useless too, it's just how dads talk."
1	Kofi	Kofi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	calls	call	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
12	too	too	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
16	just	just	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
17	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	dads	dad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
19	talk	talk	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Kofi's mate |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **call** *in a quote* | present | my dad |  | Kofi's mate *= mate* |  |  | useless *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | mate |  |  |  |  | talk *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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:* What's the truth?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:13-hard-things-at-home-broken-promises-silence-money-and-illness:t9:2
# text = What's the truth?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Being called useless often isn't okay; tell an adult

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:13-hard-things-at-home-broken-promises-silence-money-and-illness:t9:o1:1
# text = Being called useless often isn't okay; tell an adult
1	Being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	aux:pass	_	_
2	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
3	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
4	often	often	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	okay	okay	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	adult	adult	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | gerund · passive |  |  |  |  |  | useless *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V» |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | often, okay *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  |  | a adult |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent adult=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It's normal, it's how dads talk, so there's nothing anyone can do

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:13-hard-things-at-home-broken-promises-silence-money-and-illness:t9:o2:1
# text = It's normal, it's how dads talk, so there's nothing anyone can do
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	normal	normal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
8	dads	dad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	talk	talk	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	13	expl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
14	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	13	nsubj	_	_
15	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	17	nsubj	_	_
16	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | normal *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | talk *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** | present | nothing |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **do** | can | anyone |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Kids should call their dads useless back

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:13-hard-things-at-home-broken-promises-silence-money-and-illness:t9:o3:1
# text = Kids should call their dads useless back
1	Kids	kid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	dads	dad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
7	back	back	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | should | Kids |  | Kids's dads |  |  | useless *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent dad=Recipient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If dads say it, it's probably true

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:13-hard-things-at-home-broken-promises-silence-money-and-illness:t9:o4:1
# text = If dads say it, it's probably true
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	dads	dad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | dads | it |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | probably, true *property* | tree rules |

<!-- 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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