Just as a child alternative can inherit attributes from its parent, a child scenario can inherit which alternatives it references from its parent. This is essentially still the phrase just like x except for y, but on a larger scale.

Carrying through on our meal example, consider a situation where you go out to dinner with three friends. The first friend places his order, and the second friend orders the same thing except for the dessert. The third friend orders something totally different, and you order the same meal as hers except for the salad.

The four meal scenarios could then be presented as follows (inherited values are shown as gray text, local values are shown as black text.

• "Meal 2 is just like Meal 1, except for the dessert." The salad and entrée alternatives are inherited from Meal 1.
• "Meal 3 is nothing like Meal 1 or Meal 2." A totally new base or root is created.
• "Meal 4 is just like Meal 3, except for the salad." The entrée and dessert alternatives are inherited from Meal 3.