Test 6 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes
The minister calls the failed bridge project "a minor setback". What should a careful listener think?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: minister, careful listener · What happens: call, fail, think · To what, where: failed bridge project · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 6 of lesson 33 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes» 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: The minister calls the failed bridge project "a minor setback".
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 minister | det |
| 2 | minister | minister | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 calls | nsubj |
| 3 | calls | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 project | det |
| 5 | failed | fail | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 project | amod |
| 6 | bridge | bridge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 project | compound |
| 7 | project | project | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 calls | obj |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 setback | punct |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 setback | det |
| 10 | minor | minor | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 setback | amod |
| 11 | setback | setback | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 project | appos |
| 12 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 setback | punct |
| 13 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 calls | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | call | present | the minister | the failed bridge project | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent project=Recipient | ||||
| 2 | fail | participle | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «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 should a careful listener think?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 6 think | obj |
| 2 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 6 think | aux |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 listener | det |
| 4 | careful | careful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 listener | amod |
| 5 | listener | listener | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 think | nsubj |
| 6 | think | think | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 6 think | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | think speech: other | should | a careful listener | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
The bridge was moved back a bit
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 bridge | det |
| 2 | bridge | bridge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 moved | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 moved | aux:pass |
| 4 | moved | move | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | back | back | ADV | _ | 4 moved | advmod |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 bit | det |
| 7 | bit | bit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 moved | obl:unmarked |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | move back | past · passive | the bridge | a bit obl:unmarked | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
The project failed and he is making it sound small
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 project | det |
| 2 | project | project | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 failed | nsubj |
| 3 | failed | fail | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 making | cc |
| 5 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 making | nsubj |
| 6 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 making | aux |
| 7 | making | make | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 failed | conj |
| 8 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 making | obj |
| 9 | sound | sound | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 making | xcomp |
| 10 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 sound | xcomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | fail | past | the project | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | make | present · progressive | project | it | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | sound | infinitive | small property | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
Option 3
The project is going perfectly
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 project | det |
| 2 | project | project | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 going | nsubj |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 going | aux |
| 4 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 5 | perfectly | perfectly | ADV | _ | 4 going | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | present · progressive | the project | perfectly property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Option 4
The bridge is finished
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 bridge | det |
| 2 | bridge | bridge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 finished | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 finished | aux:pass |
| 4 | finished | finish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | finish | present · passive | the bridge | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=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/33-failure-and-mistakes/t6/