---
title: Grandad says faith is like building on rock. What does he mean? — Parables: the Talents, the Sower and m… · tree and pragmatics
description: Grandad says faith is like building on rock. What does he mean? Test 8 · ★★★ 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 choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 8 · ★★★ · Parables: the Talents, the Sower and more

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Grandad says faith is like building on rock. What does he mean?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Grandad, faith · **What happens:** say, build, mean · **To what, where:** rock · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Grandad says faith is like building on rock.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t8:1
# text = Grandad says faith is like building on rock.
1	Grandad	Grandad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	faith	faith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	building	build	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Grandad |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **build** | present · progressive | faith |  |  | rock |  |  | vn base-97.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent on rock=Source |

<!-- .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 does he mean?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t8:2
# text = What does he mean?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present · do-support | faith |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Churches should always be built of stone, never of wood or brick

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t8:o1:1
# text = Churches should always be built of stone, never of wood or brick
1	Churches	church	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	built	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	parataxis	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	brick	brick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | should · passive |  | Churches |  |  |  | of stone; always *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rich people build better houses

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t8:o2:1
# text = Rich people build better houses
1	Rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	build	build	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | present | Rich people | better houses |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Product |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Living by Jesus' teaching keeps you steady in hard times

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t8:o3:1
# text = Living by Jesus' teaching keeps you steady in hard times
1	Living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	csubj	_	_
2	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	Jesus	Jesus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	'	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	teaching	teaching	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
6	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	steady	steady	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | by Jesus's teaching | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by teaching=Location |
| 2 | **keep** | present | Living | you |  |  | time | steady *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Theme |
| 3 | **teach** |  | Jesus |  |  |  |  |  | nom teaching «act transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You should never go to the beach

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:15-parables-talents-sower-and-more:t8:o4:1
# text = You should never go to the beach
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	beach	beach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **go** | should | You |  |  | the beach |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to beach=Initial\_Location |

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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.

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