---
title: Kofi's teacher: "Late once is an accident. Late every day is a choic… — Being on time around the world, waitin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Kofi's teacher: "Late once is an accident. Late every day is a choice." What would fix Kofi's lateness? Test 11 of lesson 129 «Being on time around the world, waiting your turn and deadlines» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/t11/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/) / [Being on time around the world, waitin…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/) / t11

# Test 11 · Being on time around the world, waiting your turn and dead…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Kofi's teacher: "Late once is an accident. Late every day is a choice." What would fix Kofi's lateness?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** day · **What happens:** be, fix · **To what, where:** accident, choice, lateness

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 of lesson 129 «Being on time around the world, waiting your turn and deadlines» of the world 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/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Kofi's teacher: "Late once is an accident.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:129-being-on-time-around-the-world:t11:1
# text = Kofi's teacher: "Late once is an accident.
1	Kofi	Kofi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
7	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	10	advmod	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	accident	accident	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | a accident |  |  |  | once *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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Late every day is a choice."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:129-being-on-time-around-the-world:t11:2
# text = Late every day is a choice."
1	Late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
2	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	det	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	choice	choice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | every day | a choice |  |  |  | late *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What would fix Kofi's lateness?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:129-being-on-time-around-the-world:t11:3
# text = What would fix Kofi's lateness?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	obj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	fix	fix	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	Kofi	Kofi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	lateness	lateness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fix** | would |  | Kofi's lateness |  |  |  |  | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent what=Beneficiary lateness=Product |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Asking the whole school to start half an hour later every day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:129-being-on-time-around-the-world:t11:o1:1
# text = Asking the whole school to start half an hour later every day
1	Asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
7	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	9	det:predet	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	1	advmod	_	_
11	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund |  | the whole school |  |  | day | late *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent school=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **start** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the whole school *not said here* |  |  |  | hour |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Better excuses every morning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:129-being-on-time-around-the-world:t11:o2:1
# text = Better excuses every morning
1	Better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	amod	_	_
2	excuses	excuse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod:unmarked	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Better habits, like packing his bag the night before

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:129-being-on-time-around-the-world:t11:o3:1
# text = Better habits, like packing his bag the night before
1	Better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	amod	_	_
2	habits	habit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	packing	pack	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	before	before	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pack** | gerund | Better habits *not said here* | his bag |  |  | night |  | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent bag=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Blaming the bus every day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:129-being-on-time-around-the-world:t11:o4:1
# text = Blaming the bus every day
1	Blaming	blame	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	bus	bus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blame** | gerund |  | the bus |  |  | day |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bus=Theme |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Being on time around the world, waitin…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/t10/)
- next →: [Being on time around the world, waitin…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/t12/)
- ↑ back to [Being on time around the world, waiting your turn and deadlines](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/)