---
title: A cartoon says, «Good guys always win and bad guys always get what t… — Is it fair? Why bad things happen to g… · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon says, «Good guys always win and bad guys always get what they deserve.» What does real life show? Test 9 · ★★★ 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
---

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# Test 9 · ★★★ · Is it fair? Why bad things happen to good people

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon says, «Good guys always win and bad guys always get what they deserve.» What does real life show?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cartoon, Good guys, bad guys, guys · **What happens:** say, win, get, deserve, do · **To what, where:** real life show · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon says, «Good guys always win and bad guys always get what they deserve.»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:t9:1
# text = A cartoon says, «Good guys always win and bad guys always get what they deserve.»
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	guys	guy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	9	advmod	_	_
9	win	win	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	guys	guy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
13	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	14	advmod	_	_
14	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	obj	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	deserve	deserve	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a cartoon |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **win** *in a quote* | present | Good guys |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **get** *in a quote* | present | bad guys |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **deserve** *in a quote* | present | guys *= guy* |  |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What does real life show?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:t9:2
# text = What does real life show?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	show	show	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present |  | real life show |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent show=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Real life works exactly like the cartoons, if you wait long enough

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:t9:o1:1
# text = Real life works exactly like the cartoons, if you wait long enough
1	Real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	cartoons	cartoon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	wait	wait	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
12	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	11	advmod	_	_
13	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | present | Real life |  |  |  |  | like the cartoons; exactly *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **wait** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you |  |  |  |  | enough, long *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bad people always die young

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:t9:o2:1
# text = Bad people always die young
1	Bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	die	die	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | present | Bad people |  |  |  |  | always, young *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Good people never get ill

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:t9:o3:1
# text = Good people never get ill
1	Good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **get** | present | Good people |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Life isn't always fair; good people can suffer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people:t9:o4:1
# text = Life isn't always fair; good people can suffer
1	Life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
7	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
9	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	suffer	suffer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | Life |  |  |  |  | always, fair *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **suffer** | can | good people |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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