Test 10 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: death and dying
Tom: "Grandpa says when he goes to meet his maker I get his watch." When will Tom get the watch?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Grandpa, I, Tom · What happens: say, go, meet, get · To what, where: Tom, maker, watch · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 1 «Soft words for hard things: death and dying» of the euphemisms 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.
The question
Sentence 1: Tom: "Grandpa says when he goes to meet his maker I get his watch."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom | Tom | PROPN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 5 says | punct |
| 3 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 5 says | punct |
| 4 | Grandpa | Grandpa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 says | nsubj |
| 5 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 1 Tom | acl:relcl |
| 6 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 8 goes | mark |
| 7 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 goes | nsubj |
| 8 | goes | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 says | ccomp |
| 9 | to | to | PART | _ | 10 meet | mark |
| 10 | meet | meet | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 goes | xcomp |
| 11 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 12 maker | nmod:poss |
| 12 | maker | maker | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 meet | obj |
| 13 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 14 get | nsubj |
| 14 | get | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 12 maker | acl:relcl |
| 15 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 watch | nmod:poss |
| 16 | watch | watch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 get | obj |
| 17 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Tom | punct |
| 18 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 1 Tom | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert in a quote | present | Grandpa | Tom not said here | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | go in a quote | present | Grandpa | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | meet in a quote | to-infinitive | Grandpa not said here | Grandpa's maker | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent maker=Co-Agent | ||||
| 4 | get in a quote | present | I | Grandpa's watch | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer watch=Stimulus |
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.
Sentence 2: When will Tom get the watch?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 4 get | advmod |
| 2 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 get | aux |
| 3 | Tom | Tom | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 get | nsubj |
| 4 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 watch | det |
| 6 | watch | watch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 get | obj |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 get | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | get | future | Tom | the watch | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer watch=Stimulus |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
When Grandpa visits his own dad
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 visits | advmod |
| 2 | Grandpa | Grandpa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 visits | nsubj |
| 3 | visits | visit | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 dad | nmod:poss |
| 5 | own | own | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 dad | amod |
| 6 | dad | dad | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 visits | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | visit | present | Grandpa | Grandpa's own dad | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dad=Co-Agent |
Option 2
When it is made
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | When | when | SCONJ | _ | 4 made | mark |
| 2 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 made | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 made | aux:pass |
| 4 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | make | present · passive | it | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
Option 3
When Grandpa finishes making it
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 finishes | advmod |
| 2 | Grandpa | Grandpa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 finishes | nsubj |
| 3 | finishes | finish | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | making | make | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 3 finishes | xcomp |
| 5 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 making | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | finish | present | Grandpa | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | make | gerund | Grandpa not said here | it | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
When Grandpa dies
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | When | when | SCONJ | _ | 3 dies | mark |
| 2 | Grandpa | Grandpa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 dies | nsubj |
| 3 | dies | die | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | die | present | Grandpa | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/t10/