---
title: Ascertain the reason for which users of a walkie-talkie pronounce th… — Phones and how a call travels · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the reason for which users of a walkie-talkie pronounce the word over. Exam question 3 of lesson 35 «Phones and how a call travels» of the technology 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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# Exam question 3 · Phones and how a call travels

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the reason for which users of a walkie-talkie pronounce the word over.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, users · **What happens:** ascertain, pronounce over · **To what, where:** reason, word

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 35 «Phones and how a call travels» of the technology 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/technology/35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the reason for which users of a walkie-talkie pronounce the word over.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obl	_	_
6	users	user	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	walkie	walkie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	talkie	talkie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
12	pronounce	pronounce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	acl:relcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	over	over	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **pronounce over** | infinitive | users of a walkie talkie | the word |  |  |  | for the reason | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The word deactivates the apparatus

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels:e3:o1:1
# text = The word deactivates the apparatus
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	deactivates	deactivate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	apparatus	apparatus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deactivate** | present | the word | the apparatus |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector apparatus=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The word identifies the nearest telephone mast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels:e3:o2:1
# text = The word identifies the nearest telephone mast
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	identifies	identify	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	nearest	near	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
6	telephone	telephone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	mast	mast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | present | the word | the nearest telephone mast |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent mast=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The word conserves the charge of the battery

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels:e3:o3:1
# text = The word conserves the charge of the battery
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	conserves	conserve	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	charge	charge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	battery	battery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **conserve** | present | the word | the charge of the battery |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **charge** |  |  | the battery |  |  |  |  | nom charge «act transitive»: of=patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only one party may transmit at a time, and the word signals the conclusion of a message

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels:e3:o4:1
# text = Only one party may transmit at a time, and the word signals the conclusion of a message
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	transmit	transmit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	signals	signal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **transmit** | may | one party |  |  |  | time |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **conclusion** |  | the word signals |  |  |  |  | of a message | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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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- ← previous: [Phones and how a call travels, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels/e2/)
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- ↑ back to [Phones and how a call travels](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels/)