---
title: Which of the following most accurately characterises an accusation o… — The rumour that grows · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following most accurately characterises an accusation of cheating which no person witnessed? Exam question 4 of lesson 167 «The rumour that grows» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was 
---

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# Exam question 4 · The rumour that grows

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following most accurately characterises an accusation of cheating which no person witnessed?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cheating · **What happens:** follow, characteris, person, witness, accuse · **To what, where:** accusation, person, cheating

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 167 «The rumour that grows» 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/167-the-rumour-that-grows/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:167-the-rumour-that-grows:e4:1
# text = Which of the following most accurately characterises an accusation of cheating which no person witnessed?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	csubj	_	_
5	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	6	advmod	_	_
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	accusation	accusation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	cheating	cheating	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
13	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	14	det	_	_
14	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
15	witnessed	witness	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	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 | **characteris** | present |  | a accusation of cheating and no person |  |  |  | accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **person** |  | cheating and no person |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **witness** | participle |  | no person *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn captain-29.8-1 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **accuse** |  |  | cheating and no person |  |  |  |  | nom accusation «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
A finding confirmed by the teacher

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:167-the-rumour-that-grows:e4:o1:1
# text = A finding confirmed by the teacher
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	finding	finding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	confirmed	confirm	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **confirm** | participle |  | a finding *not said here* |  |  |  | by the teacher | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A fact established by common knowledge

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:167-the-rumour-that-grows:e4:o2:1
# text = A fact established by common knowledge
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	established	establish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **establish** | participle |  | a fact *not said here* |  |  |  | by common knowledge | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A conclusion proven by repetition, since many pupils have repeated it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:167-the-rumour-that-grows:e4:o3:1
# text = A conclusion proven by repetition, since many pupils have repeated it
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	proven	prove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	repetition	repetition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	pupils	pupil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	repeated	repeat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prove** | participle |  | a conclusion *not said here* |  |  |  | by repetition | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **repeat** | present · perfect · passive |  | many pupils |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An unsupported claim which ought to be dropped

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:167-the-rumour-that-grows:e4:o4:1
# text = An unsupported claim which ought to be dropped
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	unsupported	unsupported	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	claim	claim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	dropped	drop	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drop** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V» |

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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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- ← previous: [The rumour that grows, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/167-the-rumour-that-grows/e3/)
- next →: [The whole class punished, and "you did…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/168-the-whole-class-punished-and-you-didnt-say-no/t1/)
- ↑ back to [The rumour that grows](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/167-the-rumour-that-grows/)