---
title: Identify the principal deficiency which may attend reasoning by "the… — Three ways of thinking: rules, consequ… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal deficiency which may attend reasoning by "the greatest good of the greatest number". Exam question 2 of lesson 37 «Three ways of thinking: rules, consequences, character» of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the que
---

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# Exam question 2 · Three ways of thinking: rules, consequences, character

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal deficiency which may attend reasoning by "the greatest good of the greatest number".

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, principal deficiency · **What happens:** identify, attend, reason · **To what, where:** principal deficiency

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 37 «Three ways of thinking: rules, consequences, character» 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/37-rules-consequences-character/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:37-rules-consequences-character:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal deficiency which may attend reasoning by "the greatest good of the greatest number".
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	deficiency	deficiency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
6	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	attend	attend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	_
8	reasoning	reason	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	xcomp	_	_
9	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	greatest	great	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	13	amod	_	_
13	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	ccomp	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	greatest	great	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	17	amod	_	_
17	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	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 deficiency |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent deficiency=Theme |
| 2 | **attend** | may | the principal deficiency |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **reason** | gerund | the principal deficiency *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
It requires that no person be considered

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:37-rules-consequences-character:e2:o1:1
# text = It requires that no person be considered
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	requires	require	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	considered	consider	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **require** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **consider** | infinitive · passive |  | no person |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It forbids the weighing of consequences

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:37-rules-consequences-character:e2:o2:1
# text = It forbids the weighing of consequences
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	forbids	forbid	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	weighing	weighing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	consequences	consequence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forbid** | present | It | the weighing of consequences |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer weighing=Theme |
| 2 | **weigh** |  |  | consequences |  |  |  |  | nom weighing «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It invariably neglects the majority

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:37-rules-consequences-character:e2:o3:1
# text = It invariably neglects the majority
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	neglects	neglect	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	majority	majority	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **neglect** | present | It | the majority |  |  |  | invariably *property* | vn neglect-75.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent majority=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It may neglect the interests of the few

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:37-rules-consequences-character:e2:o4:1
# text = It may neglect the interests of the few
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	neglect	neglect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	interests	interest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **neglect** | may | It | the interests of the few |  |  |  |  | vn neglect-75.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent interest=Theme |

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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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