---
title: Ascertain which response to the question "Is honesty always the best… — Olympiad practice: the hardest cases · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain which response to the question "Is honesty always the best policy?" would be most highly regarded by olympiad judges. Exam question 4 of lesson 100 «Olympiad practice: the hardest cases» of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Olympiad practice: the hardest cases

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain which response to the question "Is honesty always the best policy?" would be most highly regarded by olympiad judges.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, response, olympiad judges · **What happens:** ascertain, be, regard · **To what, where:** honesty, best policy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 100 «Olympiad practice: the hardest cases» of the religion ethics 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/religion-ethics/100-olympiad-practice-the-hardest-cases/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:100-olympiad-practice-the-hardest-cases:e4:1
# text = Ascertain which response to the question "Is honesty always the best policy?" would be most highly regarded by olympiad judges.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	3	det	_	_
3	response	response	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	honesty	honesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	ccomp	_	_
10	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	13	advmod	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	13	amod	_	_
13	policy	policy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
18	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	19	advmod	_	_
19	highly	highly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	regarded	regard	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl:relcl	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	olympiad	olympiad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	judges	judge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | which response to the question | honesty |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **regard** | would · passive | olympiad judges | the best policy |  |  |  | highly *property* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One which affirms honesty without qualification or reason

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:100-olympiad-practice-the-hardest-cases:e4:o1:1
# text = One which affirms honesty without qualification or reason
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
2	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
3	affirms	affirm	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
4	honesty	honesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	without	without	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	qualification	qualification	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **affirm** | present |  | honesty |  |  |  | without qualification or reason | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer honesty=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One which denies the value of honesty entirely

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:100-olympiad-practice-the-hardest-cases:e4:o2:1
# text = One which denies the value of honesty entirely
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nsubj	_	_
2	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
3	denies	deny	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	value	value	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	honesty	honesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deny** | present | One | the value of honesty |  |  |  | entirely *property* | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent value=Eventuality |
| 2 | **value** |  |  | honesty |  |  |  |  | nom value «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One which declines to answer on the ground of difficulty

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:100-olympiad-practice-the-hardest-cases:e4:o3:1
# text = One which declines to answer on the ground of difficulty
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
2	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
3	declines	decline	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	difficulty	difficulty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decline** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **answer** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the ground of difficulty |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One which affirms honesty as the rule, examines the rare grave exceptions, and weighs both sides with reasons

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:100-olympiad-practice-the-hardest-cases:e4:o4:1
# text = One which affirms honesty as the rule, examines the rare grave exceptions, and weighs both sides with reasons
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
2	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
3	affirms	affirm	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
4	honesty	honesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	as	as	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	examines	examine	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	rare	rare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
12	grave	grave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	exceptions	exception	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	weighs	weigh	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
17	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	det	_	_
18	sides	side	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	reasons	reason	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **affirm** | present |  | honesty |  |  |  | as the rule | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer honesty=Stimulus |
| 2 | **examine** | present |  | the rare grave exceptions |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent exception=Theme |
| 3 | **weigh** | present |  | both sides |  |  |  | with reasons | vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme side=Value |

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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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