---
title: What would happen if someone used only "the greatest good" and nothi… — Three ways of thinking: rules, consequ… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if someone used only "the greatest good" and nothing else? Test 8 · ★ 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 question and of each option; Mova's cho
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Three ways of thinking: rules, consequences, character

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if someone used only "the greatest good" and nothing else?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** happen, use

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 37 «Three ways of thinking: rules, consequences, character» 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/37-rules-consequences-character/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:37-rules-consequences-character:t8:1
# text = What would happen if someone used only "the greatest good" and nothing else?
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	_	11	mark	_	_
5	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	11	nsubj	_	_
6	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	advcl	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	greatest	great	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	amod	_	_
11	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	11	conj	_	_
15	else	else	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	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 | **use** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They might treat a few people unfairly to please the many

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:37-rules-consequences-character:t8:o1:1
# text = They might treat a few people unfairly to please the many
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	treat	treat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	unfairly	unfairly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	please	please	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **treat** | might | They |  | a few people |  |  | unfairly *property* | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent people=Recipient |
| 2 | **please** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* | the many |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus many=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would always end up doing nothing at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:37-rules-consequences-character:t8:o2:1
# text = They would always end up doing nothing at all
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	end	end	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
7	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	obj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end up** | would | They |  |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | gerund | They *not said here* | nothing |  | all |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would always be fair to every single person

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:37-rules-consequences-character:t8:o3:1
# text = They would always be fair to every single person
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
8	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | They |  |  |  |  | to every single person; always, fair *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would never have to think about anyone else

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:37-rules-consequences-character:t8:o4:1
# text = They would never have to think about anyone else
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obl	_	_
9	else	else	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **have** | would | They |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about anyone | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about anyone=Topic |

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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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