---
title: What would happen if every runner could start before the whistle? — Cheating at games and sport · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if every runner could start before the whistle? Test 5 of lesson 93 «Cheating at games and sport» 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 5 · Cheating at games and sport

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if every runner could start before the whistle?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** runner · **What happens:** happen, start

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This is test 5 of lesson 93 «Cheating at games and sport» 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/93-cheating-at-games-and-sport/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:93-cheating-at-games-and-sport:t5:1
# text = What would happen if every runner could start before the whistle?
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	_	8	mark	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	runner	runner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
9	before	before	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	whistle	whistle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	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 | **start** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | every runner |  |  |  | before the whistle |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Races would be more exciting and fair, because anyone could win

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:93-cheating-at-games-and-sport:t5:o1:1
# text = Races would be more exciting and fair, because anyone could win
1	Races	race	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	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	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	12	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	win	win	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | Races |  |  |  |  | exciting *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Races *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **win** | could | anyone |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing; whistles are only decoration

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:93-cheating-at-games-and-sport:t5:o2:1
# text = Nothing; whistles are only decoration
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	whistles	whistle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	decoration	decoration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Nothing whistles | decoration |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Everyone would get a medal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:93-cheating-at-games-and-sport:t5:o3:1
# text = Everyone would get a medal
1	Everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	medal	medal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | would | Everyone | a medal |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer medal=Stimulus |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Races would mean nothing, and nobody would know who's fastest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:93-cheating-at-games-and-sport:t5:o4:1
# text = Races would mean nothing, and nobody would know who's fastest
1	Races	race	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	9	nsubj	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	fastest	fast	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | would | Races | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |
| 2 | **know** | would | nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | tree rules |

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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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