---
title: Teen: "We always did it this way. We also always had no seatbelts, m… — The politician's either-or and the str… · tree and pragmatics
description: Teen: "We always did it this way. We also always had no seatbelts, mate." What is the teen's point? Test 8 · ★ 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; Mova's
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · The politician's either-or and the straw man

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Teen: "We always did it this way. We also always had no seatbelts, mate." What is the teen's point?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** We, point, teen · **What happens:** do, have, be, point · **To what, where:** it, seatbelts

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Teen: "We always did it this way.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t8:1
# text = Teen: "We always did it this way.
1	Teen	teen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
6	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
9	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** *in a quote* | past | We | it |  |  |  | this way *obl:unmarked*; always *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

<!-- .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:* We also always had no seatbelts, mate."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t8:2
# text = We also always had no seatbelts, mate."
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	also	also	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	seatbelts	seatbelt	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | We | no seatbelts |  |  |  | always *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent seatbelt=Patient |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What is the teen's point?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t8:3
# text = What is the teen's point?
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	teen	teen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the teen's point |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **point** |  | the teen |  |  |  |  |  | nom point «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Everything old should be thrown away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t8:o1:1
# text = Everything old should be thrown away
1	Everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	amod	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	thrown	throw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	away	away	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw away** | should · passive |  | Everything |  |  |  | away *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Seatbelts were a bad idea all along

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t8:o2:1
# text = Seatbelts were a bad idea all along
1	Seatbelts	seatbelt	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	all	all	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	along	along	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Old isn't automatically right; check whether it works

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t8:o3:1
# text = Old isn't automatically right; check whether it works
1	Old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	automatically	automatically	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	check	check	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
8	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | automatically, right *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **check** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **work** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Politicians should all ride in cars

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man:t8:o4:1
# text = Politicians should all ride in cars
1	Politicians	politician	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	all	all	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	ride	ride	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	cars	car	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ride** | should | Politicians |  |  | cars |  | all *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |

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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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