---
title: Identify the term employed by philosophers to denote the question of… — Is it fair? Why bad things happen to g… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the term employed by philosophers to denote the question of why a good God permits suffering. Exam question 2 of lesson 75 «Is it fair? Why bad things happen to good people» of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and o
---

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# Exam question 2 · Is it fair? Why bad things happen to good people

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the term employed by philosophers to denote the question of why a good God permits suffering.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, good God · **What happens:** identify, employ, denote, permit · **To what, where:** term, question, suffering

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 75 «Is it fair? Why bad things happen to good people» 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/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:e2:1
# text = Identify the term employed by philosophers to denote the question of why a good God permits suffering.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	term	term	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	philosophers	philosopher	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	denote	denote	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
12	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	permits	permit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl	_	_
17	suffering	suffering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	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 term |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent term=Theme |
| 2 | **employ** | participle |  | the term *not said here* |  |  |  | by philosophers | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **denote** | to-infinitive |  | the question |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot question=Topic |
| 4 | **permit** | present | a good God | suffering |  |  |  |  | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent suffering=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
The golden rule

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:e2:o1:1
# text = The golden rule
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The communion of saints

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:e2:o2:1
# text = The communion of saints
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	communion	communion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	saints	saint	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **commune** |  | saints |  |  |  |  |  | nom communion «act intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The categorical imperative

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:e2:o3:1
# text = The categorical imperative
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	categorical	categorical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	imperative	imperative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The problem of evil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:e2:o4:1
# text = The problem of evil
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	problem	problem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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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- ↑ back to [Is it fair? Why bad things happen to good people](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/)