---
title: In a cartoon a politician punches a scarecrow labelled "My opponent'… — The politician's either-or and the str… · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon a politician punches a scarecrow labelled "My opponent's plan" and the crowd cheers. What is the joke? Test 6 · ★ 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 eac
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · The politician's either-or and the straw man

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon a politician punches a scarecrow labelled "My opponent's plan" and the crowd cheers. What is the joke?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** politician, crowd, opponent, joke · **What happens:** punch, labell, cheer, plan, be · **To what, where:** scarecrow, cartoon

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon a politician punches a scarecrow labelled "My opponent's plan" and the crowd cheers.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t6:1
# text = In a cartoon a politician punches a scarecrow labelled "My opponent's plan" and the crowd cheers.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	politician	politician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	punches	punch	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	scarecrow	scarecrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	labelled	labell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	opponent	opponent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	crowd	crowd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	cheers	cheer	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **punch** | present | a politician | a scarecrow |  | a cartoon |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent scarecrow=Patient in cartoon=Location |
| 2 | **labell** | participle |  | a scarecrow *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **cheer** | present | the crowd |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **plan** *in a quote* |  | My opponent |  |  |  |  |  | nom plan «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 is the joke?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t6:2
# text = What is the joke?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is beating an idea nobody actually holds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t6:o1:1
# text = He is beating an idea nobody actually holds
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	beating	beat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	nsubj	_	_
7	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	holds	hold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beat** | present · progressive | He | a idea |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location idea=Theme |
| 2 | **hold** | present | nobody | a idea *not said here* |  |  |  | actually *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idea=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Punching scarecrows makes plans better

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t6:o2:1
# text = Punching scarecrows makes plans better
1	Punching	punch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	csubj	_	_
2	scarecrows	scarecrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	plans	plan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **punch** | gerund |  | scarecrows |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scarecrow=Patient |
| 2 | **make** | present | Punching | plans |  |  |  | good *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset plan=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The real opponent was a scarecrow all along

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t6:o3:1
# text = The real opponent was a scarecrow all along
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	opponent	opponent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	scarecrow	scarecrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	all	all	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	along	along	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the real opponent | a scarecrow |  |  |  | along *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Scarecrows are good at politics

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t6:o4:1
# text = Scarecrows are good at politics
1	Scarecrows	scarecrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	politics	politics	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Scarecrows |  |  | politics |  | good *property* | tree rules |

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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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