---
title: Which is the strongest argument? — How to argue: reasons and evidence · tree and pragmatics
description: Which is the strongest argument? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 39 «How to argue: reasons and evidence» 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 right.
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · How to argue: reasons and evidence

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which is the strongest argument?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** strongest argument

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 39 «How to argue: reasons and evidence» 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/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence:t9:1
# text = Which is the strongest argument?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	strongest	strong	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	argument	argument	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the strongest argument |  |  |  |  | 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Littering is wrong because it harms animals; birds get caught in plastic rings

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence:t9:o1:1
# text = Littering is wrong because it harms animals; birds get caught in plastic rings
1	Littering	littering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	harms	harm	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
9	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	get	get	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	plastic	plastic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	rings	ring	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Littering |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **harm** | present | Littering | animals |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus animal=Experiencer |
| 3 | **catch** | present · passive |  | birds |  | plastic rings |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Littering is wrong, obviously, and anyone who disagrees is silly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence:t9:o2:1
# text = Littering is wrong, obviously, and anyone who disagrees is silly
1	Littering	littering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	obviously	obviously	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
8	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	12	nsubj	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	disagrees	disagree	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Littering |  |  |  |  | obviously, wrong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **disagree** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present | anyone |  |  |  |  | silly *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Littering is wrong because everybody in my street says so, and they can't all be wrong

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence:t9:o3:1
# text = Littering is wrong because everybody in my street says so, and they can't all be wrong
1	Littering	littering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	everybody	everybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	9	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
14	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
16	all	all	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
18	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Littering |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | everybody |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **is** | can | they |  |  |  |  | all, wrong *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Littering is wrong because my mum says it is wrong and that is that

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence:t9:o4:1
# text = Littering is wrong because my mum says it is wrong and that is that
1	Littering	littering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	ccomp	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	conj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
14	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Littering |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | my mum |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present | Littering |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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: [How to argue: reasons and evidence, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/t8/)
- next →: [How to argue: reasons and evidence, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/t10/)
- ↑ back to [How to argue: reasons and evidence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/)