---
title: Mum, at the telly: "That's lovely, love, but the question was about… — The politician's either-or and the str… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mum, at the telly: "That's lovely, love, but the question was about hospitals." What did the politician do? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 178 «The politician's either-or and the straw man» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · The politician's either-or and the straw man

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mum, at the telly: "That's lovely, love, but the question was about hospitals." What did the politician do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** That, question, politician · **What happens:** be, do

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 178 «The politician's either-or and the straw man» 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/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Mum, at the telly: "That's lovely, love, but the question was about hospitals."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t5:1
# text = Mum, at the telly: "That's lovely, love, but the question was about hospitals."
1	Mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	telly	telly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	lovely	lovely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	love	love	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	about	about	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	hospitals	hospital	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | That |  |  |  |  | love *vocative*; lovely *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the question |  |  |  |  | about hospitals | 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:* What did the politician do?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t5:2
# text = What did the politician do?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	politician	politician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past · do-support | the politician |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Used a tiny sample of voters

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t5:o1:1
# text = Used a tiny sample of voters
1	Used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sample	sample	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	voters	voter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past |  | a tiny sample of voters |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sample=Patient |
| 2 | **sample** |  |  | voters |  |  |  |  | nom sample «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Made a slippery slope argument

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t5:o2:1
# text = Made a slippery slope argument
1	Made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	slippery	slippery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	slope	slope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	argument	argument	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past |  | a slippery slope argument |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset argument=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Answered the hospital question very well and fully

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t5:o3:1
# text = Answered the hospital question very well and fully
1	Answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	hospital	hospital	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	1	advmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	fully	fully	ADV	RB	_	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past |  | the hospital question |  |  |  | well *property* | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent question=Eventuality |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dodged the question by changing the subject

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t5:o4:1
# text = Dodged the question by changing the subject
1	Dodged	dodge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	changing	change	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dodge** | past |  | the question |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent question=Location |
| 2 | **change** | gerund |  | the subject |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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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- ↑ back to [The politician's either-or and the straw man](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/)