---
title: A judge asks what «thorns» could choke good things in a child's life… — Parables: the Talents, the Sower and m… · tree and pragmatics
description: A judge asks what «thorns» could choke good things in a child's life today. Best answer? Test 10 · ★★★ of lesson 15 «Parables: the Talents, the Sower and more» of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's c
---

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# Test 10 · ★★★ · Parables: the Talents, the Sower and more

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A judge asks what «thorns» could choke good things in a child's life today. Best answer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** judge, thorns · **What happens:** ask, choke · **To what, where:** good things, life · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★★★ of lesson 15 «Parables: the Talents, the Sower and more» of the religion ethics 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/religion-ethics/15-parables-talents-sower-and-more/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A judge asks what «thorns» could choke good things in a child's life today.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t10:1
# text = A judge asks what «thorns» could choke good things in a child's life today.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	judge	judge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	thorns	thorn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	choke	choke	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
10	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	's	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
17	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | a judge |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **choke** | could | thorns | good things |  | a child's life | today |  | 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:* Best answer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t10:2
# text = Best answer?
1	Best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	2	amod	_	_
2	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Real thorn bushes in the school field

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t10:o1:1
# text = Real thorn bushes in the school field
1	Real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
2	thorn	thorn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	bushes	bush	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Worries and distractions like screens crowding out good habits

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t10:o2:1
# text = Worries and distractions like screens crowding out good habits
1	Worries	worry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	distractions	distraction	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	screens	screen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
6	crowding	crowd	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	out	out	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	habits	habit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **crowd out** | gerund | screens *not said here* | good habits |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP.theme V NP»: agent=Theme habit=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Teachers who give too much homework to anyone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t10:o3:1
# text = Teachers who give too much homework to anyone
1	Teachers	teacher	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
3	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	homework	homework	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | present | Teachers | much homework | anyone |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent homework=Theme to anyone=Recipient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, the thorns were only about farming

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t10:o4:1
# text = Nothing, the thorns were only about farming
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	thorns	thorn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	farming	farming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the thorns |  |  |  |  | about farming | tree rules |

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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: [Parables: the Talents, the Sower and m…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/15-parables-talents-sower-and-more/t9/)
- next →: [Parables: the Talents, the Sower and m…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/15-parables-talents-sower-and-more/t11/)
- ↑ back to [Parables: the Talents, the Sower and more](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/15-parables-talents-sower-and-more/)