---
title: What would happen if everyone believed illness was a punishment for… — Is it fair? Why bad things happen to g… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if everyone believed illness was a punishment for being bad? Test 5 · ★★★ 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 of each option; Mova's choic
---

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# Test 5 · ★★★ · Is it fair? Why bad things happen to good people

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if everyone believed illness was a punishment for being bad?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** everyone, illness · **What happens:** happen, believe, be · **To what, where:** punishment · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★★★ of lesson 75 «Is it fair? Why bad things happen to good people» 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/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:t5:1
# text = What would happen if everyone believed illness was a punishment for being bad?
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	_	6	mark	_	_
5	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	6	nsubj	_	_
6	believed	believe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	illness	illness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	punishment	punishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	cop	_	_
13	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	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 | **believe** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | everyone |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is a** | past | illness | a punishment |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hospitals would get much better

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:t5:o1:1
# text = Hospitals would get much better
1	Hospitals	hospital	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | would | Hospitals |  |  |  |  | good *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing; it would be harmless

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:t5:o2:1
# text = Nothing; it would be harmless
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
6	harmless	harmless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | it |  |  |  |  | harmless *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People would stop getting ill, because they would all try harder to be good

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:t5:o3:1
# text = People would stop getting ill, because they would all try harder to be good
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	getting	get	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	all	all	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
12	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	11	xcomp	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	cop	_	_
15	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | People |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **get** | gerund | People *not said here* |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **try** | would | People |  |  |  |  | all, hard *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | to-infinitive | People *not said here* |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sick people would be blamed unfairly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:t5:o4:1
# text = Sick people would be blamed unfairly
1	Sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	blamed	blame	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	unfairly	unfairly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blame** | would · passive |  | Sick people |  |  |  | unfairly *property* | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- 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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