---
title: What would happen if nobody's promises could be relied on? — Keeping promises · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if nobody's promises could be relied on? Test 4 of lesson 86 «Keeping promises» 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 was wrong.
---

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# Test 4 · Keeping promises

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if nobody's promises could be relied on?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** nobody · **What happens:** happen, rely on, promise · **To what, where:** promises

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This is test 4 of lesson 86 «Keeping promises» 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/86-keeping-promises/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:86-keeping-promises:t4:1
# text = What would happen if nobody's promises could be relied on?
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	_	10	mark	_	_
5	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	promises	promise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	relied	rely	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	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 | **rely on** *a condition, not said to happen* | could · passive |  | nobody's promises |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **promise** |  | nobody |  |  |  |  |  | nom promise «communication transitive»: poss=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody could plan anything, like matches, play dates or teams

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:86-keeping-promises:t4:o1:1
# text = Nobody could plan anything, like matches, play dates or teams
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	plan	plan	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	matches	match	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	play	play	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	dates	date	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	teams	team	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **plan** | could | Nobody | anything |  |  |  | like matches and play dates or teams | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Life would be more exciting, because nobody would know what comes next

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:86-keeping-promises:t4:o2:1
# text = Life would be more exciting, because nobody would know what comes next
1	Life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	advmod	_	_
5	exciting	exciting	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	nsubj	_	_
12	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
13	next	next	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | Life |  |  |  |  | exciting *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | would | nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **come** | present |  |  |  |  |  | next *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing; promises don't really matter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:86-keeping-promises:t4:o3:1
# text = Nothing; promises don't really matter
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	promises	promise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
6	really	really	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	matter	matter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **matter** | present · do-support | Nothing promises |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People would make more promises than ever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:86-keeping-promises:t4:o4:1
# text = People would make more promises than ever
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	promises	promise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | would | People | more promises |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent promise=Product |

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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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- ← previous: [Keeping promises, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/86-keeping-promises/t3/)
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