---
title: What would happen if Lucy kept believing in the pencil? — Tricks the mind plays: inner voices, s… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if Lucy kept believing in the pencil? Test 4 · ★★★ of lesson 27 «Tricks the mind plays: inner voices, superstitions and being sure but wrong» 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
---

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# Test 4 · ★★★ · Tricks the mind plays: inner voices, superstitions and bei…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if Lucy kept believing in the pencil?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Lucy · **What happens:** happen, keep, believe · **To what, where:** pencil

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★★★ of lesson 27 «Tricks the mind plays: inner voices, superstitions and being sure but wrong» 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/27-tricks-the-mind-plays-inner-voices-superstitions-and-being-sure-but-wrong/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:27-tricks-the-mind-plays-inner-voices-superstitions-and-being-sure-but-wrong:t4:1
# text = What would happen if Lucy kept believing in the pencil?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	Lucy	Lucy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	believing	believe	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	xcomp	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	pencil	pencil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **keep** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Lucy |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **believe** | gerund | Lucy *not said here* |  |  | the pencil |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She'd likely remember only the times it "worked"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:27-tricks-the-mind-plays-inner-voices-superstitions-and-being-sure-but-wrong:t4:o1:1
# text = She'd likely remember only the times it "worked"
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	likely	likely	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	remember	remember	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	worked	work	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remember** | would | She |  |  |  | time | likely *property* | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **work** *in a quote* | past | it | the times *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent time=Material |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing; superstitions are always true

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:27-tricks-the-mind-plays-inner-voices-superstitions-and-being-sure-but-wrong:t4:o2:1
# text = Nothing; superstitions are always true
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	superstitions	superstition	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
6	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Nothing superstitions |  |  |  |  | always, true *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She would fail every single test whenever she forgot it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:27-tricks-the-mind-plays-inner-voices-superstitions-and-being-sure-but-wrong:t4:o3:1
# text = She would fail every single test whenever she forgot it
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	fail	fail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
5	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	test	test	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	9	advmod	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	forgot	forget	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fail** | would | She | every single test |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent test=Eventuality |
| 2 | **forget** | past | she | test |  |  |  | whenever *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pencil would get luckier every year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:reflection:27-tricks-the-mind-plays-inner-voices-superstitions-and-being-sure-but-wrong:t4:o4:1
# text = The pencil would get luckier every year
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pencil	pencil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	luckier	lucky	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | would | the pencil |  |  |  | year | lucky *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- 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: [Tricks the mind plays: inner voices, s…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/reflection/27-tricks-the-mind-plays-inner-voices-superstitions-and-being-sure-but-wrong/t3/)
- next →: [Tricks the mind plays: inner voices, s…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/reflection/27-tricks-the-mind-plays-inner-voices-superstitions-and-being-sure-but-wrong/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Tricks the mind plays: inner voices, superstitions and being sure but wrong](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/reflection/27-tricks-the-mind-plays-inner-voices-superstitions-and-being-sure-but-wrong/)