---
title: A cartoon shows a kid who blames the pasty-eating dog on the postman… — Pretend, cover stories and lies that b… · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon shows a kid who blames the pasty-eating dog on the postman. What is the honest fix? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 85 «Pretend, cover stories and lies that become habits» of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opti
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Pretend, cover stories and lies that become habits

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon shows a kid who blames the pasty-eating dog on the postman. What is the honest fix?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cartoon, kid, honest fix · **What happens:** show, blame, eat, be · **To what, where:** kid, eating dog, postman

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 85 «Pretend, cover stories and lies that become habits» 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/85-pretend-cover-stories-and-lies-that-become-habits/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon shows a kid who blames the pasty-eating dog on the postman.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:85-pretend-cover-stories-and-lies-that-become-habits:t8:1
# text = A cartoon shows a kid who blames the pasty-eating dog on the postman.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	kid	kid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	blames	blame	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
9	pasty	pasty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	amod	_	_
12	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	postman	postman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | a cartoon |  | a kid |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent kid=Recipient |
| 2 | **blame** | present | a kid | the eating dog |  | the postman |  |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Theme |
| 3 | **eat** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is the honest fix?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:85-pretend-cover-stories-and-lies-that-become-habits:t8:2
# text = What is the honest fix?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	honest	honest	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	fix	fix	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Buy a new pasty and pretend it's the one Gran made

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:85-pretend-cover-stories-and-lies-that-become-habits:t8:o1:1
# text = Buy a new pasty and pretend it's the one Gran made
1	Buy	buy	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	pasty	pasty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	pretend	pretend	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	_
11	Gran	Gran	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | imperative | you *not said here* | a new pasty |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pasty=Theme |
| 2 | **pretend** | present | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | present | pasty | the one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **make** | past | Gran | the one *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Blame the postman, because he can't defend himself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:85-pretend-cover-stories-and-lies-that-become-habits:t8:o2:1
# text = Blame the postman, because he can't defend himself
1	Blame	blame	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	postman	postman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	defend	defend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
10	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blame** | imperative | you *not said here* | the postman |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent postman=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **defend** | can | he | himself *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Beneficiary |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tell Gran the dog got it; she'll probably laugh

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:85-pretend-cover-stories-and-lies-that-become-habits:t8:o3:1
# text = Tell Gran the dog got it; she'll probably laugh
1	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	Gran	Gran	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	'll	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	laugh	laugh	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* |  | Gran |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent gran=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **get** | past | the dog | it |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 3 | **laugh** | future | dog |  |  |  |  | probably *property* | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Say the pasty never arrived in the post at all, Gran

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:85-pretend-cover-stories-and-lies-that-become-habits:t8:o4:1
# text = Say the pasty never arrived in the post at all, Gran
1	Say	say	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	pasty	pasty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	post	post	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	Gran	Gran	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **arrive** | past | the pasty |  |  | the post |  | at all | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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- next →: [Pretend, cover stories and lies that b…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/85-pretend-cover-stories-and-lies-that-become-habits/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Pretend, cover stories and lies that become habits](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/85-pretend-cover-stories-and-lies-that-become-habits/)