---
title: Alice says Rule Forty-two «ought to be Number One» if it is the olde… — A fair trial, and the Wonderland court… · tree and pragmatics
description: Alice says Rule Forty-two «ought to be Number One» if it is the oldest. Why is that a clever answer? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 191 «A fair trial, and the Wonderland court that gets it all wrong» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of 
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · A fair trial, and the Wonderland court that gets it all wr…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Alice says Rule Forty-two «ought to be Number One» if it is the oldest. Why is that a clever answer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Alice, Number · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** Rule, Number, clever answer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 191 «A fair trial, and the Wonderland court that gets it all wrong» 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/191-a-fair-trial-and-the-wonderland-court-that-gets-it-all-wrong/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Alice says Rule Forty-two «ought to be Number One» if it is the oldest.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:191-a-fair-trial-and-the-wonderland-court-that-gets-it-all-wrong:t9:1
# text = Alice says Rule Forty-two «ought to be Number One» if it is the oldest.
1	Alice	Alice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Rule	Rule	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	Forty	Forty	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	appos	_	_
7	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	cop	_	_
11	Number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
12	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	oldest	old	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Alice | Rule |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent rule=Topic |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | ought | Alice *not said here* | Number |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | Number |  |  |  |  | old *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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why is that a clever answer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:191-a-fair-trial-and-the-wonderland-court-that-gets-it-all-wrong:t9:2
# text = Why is that a clever answer?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rules are numbered in order, so the oldest rule would be the first

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:191-a-fair-trial-and-the-wonderland-court-that-gets-it-all-wrong:t9:o1:1
# text = Rules are numbered in order, so the oldest rule would be the first
1	Rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	numbered	number	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	oldest	old	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	10	amod	_	_
10	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	cop	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **number** | present · passive |  | Rules |  |  |  | in order *goal* | vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Theme in order=Goal |
| 2 | **is** | would | the oldest rule |  |  |  |  | first *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Alice wanted to be the one who wrote and numbered all the rules of the court herself

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:191-a-fair-trial-and-the-wonderland-court-that-gets-it-all-wrong:t9:o2:1
# text = Alice wanted to be the one who wrote and numbered all the rules of the court herself
1	Alice	Alice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	xcomp	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	numbered	number	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
11	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	13	det:predet	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	court	court	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
17	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | Alice |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 2 | **is a** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Alice *not said here* | the one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **write** | past | the one | Alice |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **number** | past | the one *not said here* | all rules of the court |  |  |  |  | vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rule=Theme |
| 5 | **rule** |  | the court |  |  |  |  |  | nom rule «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Forty-two is a number that cannot be used for rules

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:191-a-fair-trial-and-the-wonderland-court-that-gets-it-all-wrong:t9:o3:1
# text = Forty-two is a number that cannot be used for rules
1	Forty	forty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	conj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl:relcl	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Forty | a number |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **use** | can · passive |  | a number |  |  |  | for rules | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: subject=Theme for rule=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rule Number One is always about people's height

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:191-a-fair-trial-and-the-wonderland-court-that-gets-it-all-wrong:t9:o4:1
# text = Rule Number One is always about people's height
1	Rule	Rule	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
2	Number	Number	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	flat	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	9	advmod	_	_
6	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	height	height	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Rule |  |  |  |  | about people's height; always *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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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