---
title: Identify the principal error in concluding, from a single neighbour… — "It worked once": one example is not all · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal error in concluding, from a single neighbour who smoked and attained the age of ninety-five, that smoking is not harmful. Exam question 1 of lesson 164 «"It worked once": one example is not all» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmat
---

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# Exam question 1 · "It worked once": one example is not all

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal error in concluding, from a single neighbour who smoked and attained the age of ninety-five, that smoking is not harmful.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, single neighbour, smoking · **What happens:** identify, smoke, attain, not be · **To what, where:** principal error, concluding, age

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 164 «"It worked once": one example is not all» of the world 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/world/164-it-worked-once-one-example-is-not-all/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:164-it-worked-once-one-example-is-not-all:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal error in concluding, from a single neighbour who smoked and attained the age of ninety-five, that smoking is not harmful.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	error	error	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	concluding	concluding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
13	smoked	smoke	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	attained	attain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	ninety	ninety	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	det	_	_
24	smoking	smoking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
25	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	harmful	harmful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal error |  | concluding |  | from a single neighbour | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent error=Theme |
| 2 | **smoke** | past | a single neighbour |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **attain** | past | a single neighbour *not said here* | the age of ninety five |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent age=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **is** | present | that smoking |  |  |  |  | harmful *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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The neighbour must have consumed honey regularly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:164-it-worked-once-one-example-is-not-all:e1:o1:1
# text = The neighbour must have consumed honey regularly
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	consumed	consume	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	honey	honey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	regularly	regularly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consume** | must · perfect | the neighbour | honey |  |  |  | regularly *property* | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent honey=Asset |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The neighbour's age was insufficiently advanced

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:164-it-worked-once-one-example-is-not-all:e1:o2:1
# text = The neighbour's age was insufficiently advanced
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	insufficiently	insufficiently	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	advanced	advanced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the neighbour's age |  |  |  |  | advanced, insufficiently *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Smoking was less common in former times

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:164-it-worked-once-one-example-is-not-all:e1:o3:1
# text = Smoking was less common in former times
1	Smoking	smoking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
4	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Smoking |  |  |  | time | common, less *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A single fortunate case is set against evidence drawn from very large populations

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:164-it-worked-once-one-example-is-not-all:e1:o4:1
# text = A single fortunate case is set against evidence drawn from very large populations
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	fortunate	fortunate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	against	against	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	evidence	evidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
9	drawn	draw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	very	very	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	populations	population	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set** | present · passive |  | a single fortunate case |  | evidence |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme against evidence=Destination |
| 2 | **draw** | participle |  | evidence *not said here* |  |  |  | from large populations | vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from population=Co-Patient |

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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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