Test 11 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police
"My cousin did time, back in the 90s — no wait, early 2000s." What did the cousin do?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: cousin · What happens: do · To what, where: 90s
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 27 «Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police» 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: "My cousin did time, back in the 90s — no wait, early 2000s."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 did | punct |
| 2 | My | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 3 cousin | nmod:poss |
| 3 | cousin | cousin | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 did | nsubj |
| 4 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 did | obl:unmarked |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 back | punct |
| 7 | back | back | ADV | _ | 4 did | advmod |
| 8 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 90s | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 90s | det |
| 10 | 90s | 90s | NOUN | Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card | 4 did | obl |
| 11 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 13 wait | punct |
| 12 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 13 wait | det |
| 13 | wait | wait | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 90s | conj |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 2000s | punct |
| 15 | early | early | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 2000s | amod |
| 16 | 2000s | 2000 | NOUN | Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card | 10 90s | conj |
| 17 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 did | punct |
| 18 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 did | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | do in a quote | past | My cousin | the 90s and no wait and early 2000s | time | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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 did the cousin do?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 5 do | obj |
| 2 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 do | aux |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 cousin | det |
| 4 | cousin | cousin | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 do | nsubj |
| 5 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 5 do | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | do | past · do-support | the cousin | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Worked as a clockmaker in the 90s
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Worked | work | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 2 | as | as | ADP | _ | 4 clockmaker | case |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 clockmaker | det |
| 4 | clockmaker | clockmaker | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Worked | obl |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 90s | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 90s | det |
| 7 | 90s | 90s | NOUN | Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card | 1 Worked | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | work | participle | as a clockmaker; in the 90s | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in 90s=Theme |
Option 2
Studied history in the early 2000s
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Studied | study | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 history | amod |
| 2 | history | history | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 2000s | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 2000s | det |
| 5 | early | early | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 2000s | amod |
| 6 | 2000s | 2000 | NOUN | Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card | 2 history | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | study | participle | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
Option 3
Served a prison sentence in the 90s
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Served | serve | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 sentence | det |
| 3 | prison | prison | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sentence | compound |
| 4 | sentence | sentence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Served | obj |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 90s | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 90s | det |
| 7 | 90s | 90s | NOUN | Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card | 1 Served | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | serve | past | a prison sentence | the 90s | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent sentence=Value in 90s=Location |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Served a prison sentence in the early 2000s
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Served | serve | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 sentence | det |
| 3 | prison | prison | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sentence | compound |
| 4 | sentence | sentence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Served | obj |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 2000s | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 2000s | det |
| 7 | early | early | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 2000s | amod |
| 8 | 2000s | 2000 | NOUN | Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card | 1 Served | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | serve | past | a prison sentence | the early 2000s | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent sentence=Value in 2000=Location |
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/27-crime-prison-and-police/t11/