---
title: What would happen if apologies never came with any change? — Saying sorry and making amends: Zaccha… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if apologies never came with any change? Test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 90 «Saying sorry and making amends: Zacchaeus pays back» 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 right.
---

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# Test 9 · ★★★ · Saying sorry and making amends: Zacchaeus pays back

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if apologies never came with any change?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** apologies · **What happens:** happen, not come

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 90 «Saying sorry and making amends: Zacchaeus pays back» 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/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back:t9:1
# text = What would happen if apologies never came with any change?
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	_	7	mark	_	_
5	apologies	apology	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
6	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
10	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	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 | **not** **come** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | apologies |  |  |  |  | with any change | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sorry would become an empty word and nobody would trust it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back:t9:o1:1
# text = Sorry would become an empty word and nobody would trust it
1	Sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	xcomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	trust	trust	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | would | Sorry | a empty word |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **trust** | would | nobody | word |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing; sorry works on its own anyway

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back:t9:o2:1
# text = Nothing; sorry works on its own anyway
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
3	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	works	work	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	nmod	_	_
8	anyway	anyway	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Everyone would be happier and kinder, because nobody would feel guilty

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back:t9:o3:1
# text = Everyone would be happier and kinder, because nobody would feel guilty
1	Everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	happier	happy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	kinder	kind	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	11	nsubj	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
12	guilty	guilty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | Everyone |  |  |  |  | happy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Everyone *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **feel** | would | nobody |  |  |  |  | guilty *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People would stop doing wrong things

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back:t9:o4:1
# text = People would stop doing wrong things
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	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .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 | **do** | gerund | People *not said here* | wrong things |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |

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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: [Saying sorry and making amends: Zaccha…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/t8/)
- next →: [Saying sorry and making amends: Zaccha…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Saying sorry and making amends: Zacchaeus pays back](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/)