---
title: Identify the principal reason for which a personal attack fails as a… — How to argue: counter-arguments and re… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which a personal attack fails as a rebuttal. Exam question 2 of lesson 40 «How to argue: counter-arguments and respect» 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 
---

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# Exam question 2 · How to argue: counter-arguments and respect

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which a personal attack fails as a rebuttal.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, personal attack · **What happens:** identify, fail · **To what, where:** principal reason

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 40 «How to argue: counter-arguments and respect» 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/40-how-to-argue-counter-arguments-and-respect/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:40-how-to-argue-counter-arguments-and-respect:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which a personal attack fails as a rebuttal.
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	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	personal	personal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	attack	attack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	fails	fail	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl	_	_
11	as	as	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	rebuttal	rebuttal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	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 reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **fail** | present | a personal attack |  |  |  |  | for the principal reason; as a rebuttal | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is permitted solely in the final round of competition

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:40-how-to-argue-counter-arguments-and-respect:e2:o1:1
# text = It is permitted solely in the final round of competition
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	permitted	permit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	final	final	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	round	round	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	competition	competition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **permit** | present · passive |  | It |  | the final round of competition |  | solely *property* | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in round=Location |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It addresses the person rather than the reasons advanced

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:40-how-to-argue-counter-arguments-and-respect:e2:o2:1
# text = It addresses the person rather than the reasons advanced
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	addresses	address	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	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	8	cc	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	5	fixed	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	reasons	reason	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
9	advanced	advanced	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **address** | present | It |  | the person rather the reasons |  |  |  | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent person=Destination |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It addresses the reasons rather than the person concerned

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:40-how-to-argue-counter-arguments-and-respect:e2:o3:1
# text = It addresses the reasons rather than the person concerned
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	addresses	address	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	reasons	reason	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	8	cc	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	5	fixed	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	concerned	concerned	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **address** | present | It | the reasons  the person |  |  |  |  | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is invariably delivered at insufficient volume

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:40-how-to-argue-counter-arguments-and-respect:e2:o4:1
# text = It is invariably delivered at insufficient volume
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	delivered	deliver	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	insufficient	insufficient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	volume	volume	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deliver** | present · passive |  | It |  | insufficient volume |  | invariably *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- 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: counter-arguments and re…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/40-how-to-argue-counter-arguments-and-respect/e1/)
- next →: [How to argue: counter-arguments and re…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/40-how-to-argue-counter-arguments-and-respect/e3/)
- ↑ back to [How to argue: counter-arguments and respect](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/40-how-to-argue-counter-arguments-and-respect/)