Test 1 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: war, the military and violence
News: "The ministry confirms our losses in the eastern sector were light." What really happened?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: ministry, News · What happens: confirm, be, happen · To what, where: losses, eastern sector
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 26 «Soft words for hard things: war, the military and violence» 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: News: "The ministry confirms our losses in the eastern sector were light."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | News | news | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 light | nsubj |
| 2 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 6 confirms | punct |
| 3 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 confirms | punct |
| 4 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 ministry | det |
| 5 | ministry | ministry | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 confirms | nsubj |
| 6 | confirms | confirm | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 1 News | parataxis |
| 7 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 losses | nmod:poss |
| 8 | losses | loss | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 confirms | obj |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 12 sector | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 sector | det |
| 11 | eastern | eastern | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 sector | amod |
| 12 | sector | sector | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 confirms | obl |
| 13 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 light | cop |
| 14 | light | light | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 15 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 light | punct |
| 16 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 14 light | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | confirm in a quote | present | the ministry | our losses | the eastern sector | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot loss=Topic | |||
| 2 | is in a quote | past | News | light property | tree rules |
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: What really happened?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 happened | nsubj |
| 2 | really | really | ADV | _ | 3 happened | advmod |
| 3 | happened | happen | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 happened | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | happen | past | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
They spent little money
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 spent | nsubj |
| 2 | spent | spend | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 money | amod |
| 4 | money | money | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 spent | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | spend | past | They | little money | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=Asset |
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
Some of their soldiers were killed, but not many
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 4 soldiers | det |
| 2 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 soldiers | case |
| 3 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 4 soldiers | nmod:poss |
| 4 | soldiers | soldier | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 killed | nsubj:pass |
| 5 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 killed | aux:pass |
| 6 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 many | punct |
| 8 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 10 many | cc |
| 9 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 10 many | advmod |
| 10 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 killed | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | kill | past · passive | their soldiers | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
Option 3
They lost a football match in the eastern part of the country
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 lost | nsubj |
| 2 | lost | lose | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 match | det |
| 4 | football | football | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 match | compound |
| 5 | match | match | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 lost | obj |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 9 part | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 part | det |
| 8 | eastern | eastern | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 part | amod |
| 9 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 lost | obl |
| 10 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 country | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 country | det |
| 12 | country | country | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 part | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lose | past | They | a football match | the eastern part of the country | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent match=Eventuality |
Option 4
They lost a few maps and tools
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 lost | nsubj |
| 2 | lost | lose | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 maps | det |
| 4 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 maps | amod |
| 5 | maps | map | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 lost | obj |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 tools | cc |
| 7 | tools | tool | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 maps | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lose | past | They | a few maps and tools | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent map=Eventuality |
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/26-war-and-the-military/t1/