---
title: Which of the following most accurately characterises the principal d… — Honest with yourself: excuses, pride a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following most accurately characterises the principal disadvantage of an excuse? Exam question 1 of lesson 98 «Honest with yourself: excuses, pride and the truth inside» of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and o
---

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# Exam question 1 · Honest with yourself: excuses, pride and the truth inside

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following most accurately characterises the principal disadvantage of an excuse?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** follow, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 98 «Honest with yourself: excuses, pride and the truth inside» of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/98-honest-with-yourself-excuses-pride-and-the-truth-inside/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:98-honest-with-yourself-excuses-pride-and-the-truth-inside:e1:1
# text = Which of the following most accurately characterises the principal disadvantage of an excuse?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	case	_	_
5	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	6	advmod	_	_
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
7	characterises	characteris	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	disadvantage	disadvantage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	excuse	excuse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of the principal disadvantage; of a excuse; accurately *property* | 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It preserves the appearance of the speaker whilst preventing the remedy of the actual problem

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:98-honest-with-yourself-excuses-pride-and-the-truth-inside:e1:o1:1
# text = It preserves the appearance of the speaker whilst preventing the remedy of the actual problem
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	preserves	preserve	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	appearance	appearance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	speaker	speaker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	preventing	prevent	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	remedy	remedy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	actual	actual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	problem	problem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **preserve** | present | It | the appearance of the speaker |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent appearance=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **prevent** | gerund |  | the remedy of the actual problem |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer remedy=Theme |
| 3 | **remedy** |  |  | the actual problem |  |  |  |  | nom remedy «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is always more difficult to formulate than the truth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:98-honest-with-yourself-excuses-pride-and-the-truth-inside:e1:o2:1
# text = It is always more difficult to formulate than the truth
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	expl	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
4	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	advmod	_	_
5	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	formulate	formulate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	csubj	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | always, difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **formulate** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | than the truth | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It possesses no disadvantage whatsoever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:98-honest-with-yourself-excuses-pride-and-the-truth-inside:e1:o3:1
# text = It possesses no disadvantage whatsoever
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	possesses	possess	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	disadvantage	disadvantage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | It | no disadvantage |  |  |  | whatsoever *property* | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot disadvantage=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It invariably results in a more severe penalty than the truth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:religion-ethics:98-honest-with-yourself-excuses-pride-and-the-truth-inside:e1:o4:1
# text = It invariably results in a more severe penalty than the truth
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	results	result	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	7	advmod	_	_
7	severe	severe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	penalty	penalty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

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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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