--- title: Votes, parties and the people in charge — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Votes, parties and the people in charge», a lesson of the adult life course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: In a democracy the grown-ups choose who runs the country and the town. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Adult life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/) / Votes, parties and the people in charge # Votes, parties and the people in charge Lesson 31 of the adult life course of Mova's primary school: 18 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/0/) — In a democracy the grown-ups choose who runs the country and the town. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/2/) — Before an election, leaflets with smiling faces land on the mat: each candidate explains what they promise. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/3/) — On the day, the school hall becomes a polling station, and each voter puts a cross on a paper in a little booth, in secret. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/4/) — Scene: at Christmas dinner in Leeds, Grandad and Auntie Jo argue about the government until the gravy goes cold. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/5/) — Later Grandad winks at you: «Who I voted for is between me and the ballot box.» Nobody was wrong to argue, and nobody has to say how they voted. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/6/) — People belong to parties, each with its own colour and its own ideas about taxes, schools, hospitals and who may come to live in the country. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/7/) — They disagree honestly, and the next election lets everyone choose again. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/8/) — An election is when adults vote to choose their leaders and representatives; candidates send leaflets to explain their promises. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/9/) — A polling station is a place, often a school or church hall, where people vote in secret in a small booth. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/10/) — Voting is secret, so nobody has to tell anyone how they voted, not even their own family. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/11/) — A political party is a group of people who share ideas about how the country should be run; colours like red, blue, yellow and green help people recognise them. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/12/) — Family arguments about politics are very common, because big choices affect everybody and people's views come from their own lives. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/13/) — In the UK the Prime Minister leads the government from 10 Downing Street; in the USA the leader is the President, and both must obey the law. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/14/) — Many people feel let down by politicians, but they can still vote, write letters and get involved. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/15/) — Parliament is where elected representatives, called MPs in the UK, debate and vote on new laws. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/16/) — Tax is money people pay to the government from what they earn and spend, and it pays for schools, hospitals, roads and police. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/18/) — Immigration means people moving to live in another country; countries have rules about it, and people disagree about those rules. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/31-votes-parties-and-the-people-in-charge/19/) — In the UK grown-ups can vote from the age of 18; children cannot vote yet, but they can still write letters and have their say. - ← previous: [Police, courts and prison](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/30-police-courts-and-prison/) - next →: [Bad news, protests and helping others](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/32-bad-news-protests-and-helping-others/) - ↑ back to [Adult life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/)