---
title: Identify the principal reason for which an untruth is said to "snowb… — Old guilt: secrets that grow and how t… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which an untruth is said to "snowball". Exam question 2 of lesson 17 «Old guilt: secrets that grow and how to let them go» of the reflection course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice wa
---

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# Exam question 2 · Old guilt: secrets that grow and how to let them go

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which an untruth is said to "snowball".

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, say · **To what, where:** principal reason, untruth, snowball · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 17 «Old guilt: secrets that grow and how to let them go» of the reflection 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/reflection/17-old-guilt-secrets-that-grow-and-how-to-let-them-go/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:17-old-guilt-secrets-that-grow-and-how-to-let-them-go:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which an untruth is said to "snowball".
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obl	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	untruth	untruth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	snowball	snowball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | a untruth | snowball |  |  | for the principal reason | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to snowball=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
Falsehoods are habitually uttered during winter months

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:17-old-guilt-secrets-that-grow-and-how-to-let-them-go:e2:o1:1
# text = Falsehoods are habitually uttered during winter months
1	Falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	habitually	habitually	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	uttered	utter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	during	during	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **utter** *speech: other* | present · passive |  | Falsehoods |  |  | month | habitually *property* | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The original falsehood is invariably forgotten by its hearers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:17-old-guilt-secrets-that-grow-and-how-to-let-them-go:e2:o2:1
# text = The original falsehood is invariably forgotten by its hearers
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	original	original	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	forgotten	forget	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	hearers	hearer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forget** | present · passive | falsehood's hearers | the original falsehood |  |  |  | invariably *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Untruths diminish in magnitude with the passage of time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:17-old-guilt-secrets-that-grow-and-how-to-let-them-go:e2:o3:1
# text = Untruths diminish in magnitude with the passage of time
1	Untruths	untruth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	diminish	diminish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	magnitude	magnitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **diminish** | present | Untruths |  |  | magnitude |  | with the passage of time | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **pass** |  | time |  |  |  |  |  | nom passage «act intransitive»: of=agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each falsehood necessitates further falsehoods to conceal it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:17-old-guilt-secrets-that-grow-and-how-to-let-them-go:e2:o4:1
# text = Each falsehood necessitates further falsehoods to conceal it
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	necessitates	necessitate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	further	further	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	conceal	conceal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **necessitate** | present | each falsehood | further falsehoods |  |  |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme falsehood=Precondition |
| 2 | **conceal** | to-infinitive | each falsehood *not said here* | falsehood |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

<!-- 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: [Old guilt: secrets that grow and how t…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/reflection/17-old-guilt-secrets-that-grow-and-how-to-let-them-go/e1/)
- next →: [Old guilt: secrets that grow and how t…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/reflection/17-old-guilt-secrets-that-grow-and-how-to-let-them-go/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Old guilt: secrets that grow and how to let them go](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/reflection/17-old-guilt-secrets-that-grow-and-how-to-let-them-go/)