Test 9 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes
The film director writes back: "Thanks, but we've decided to go in a different direction." What does the actor learn?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: film director, we, actor · What happens: write back, decide, go, learn · To what, where: Thanks, different direction
This is test 9 of lesson 34 «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 film director writes back: "Thanks, but we've decided to go in a different direction."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 director | det |
| 2 | film | film | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 director | compound |
| 3 | director | director | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 writes | nsubj |
| 4 | writes | write | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | back | back | ADV | _ | 4 writes | advmod |
| 6 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 8 Thanks | punct |
| 7 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 Thanks | punct |
| 8 | Thanks | thanks | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 writes | discourse |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 decided | punct |
| 10 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 13 decided | cc |
| 11 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 13 decided | nsubj |
| 12 | 've | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 13 decided | aux |
| 13 | decided | decide | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 8 Thanks | acl:relcl |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 go | mark |
| 15 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 decided | xcomp |
| 16 | in | in | ADP | _ | 19 direction | case |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 19 direction | det |
| 18 | different | different | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 direction | amod |
| 19 | direction | direction | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 go | obl |
| 20 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 Thanks | punct |
| 21 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 Thanks | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | write back | present | the film director | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | decide in a quote | present · perfect | we | Thanks not said here | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent that S»: agent=Agent thanks=Co-Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | go not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | we not said here | a different direction | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in direction=Location |
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 does the actor learn?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 5 learn | obj |
| 2 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 learn | aux |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 actor | det |
| 4 | actor | actor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 learn | nsubj |
| 5 | learn | learn | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 5 learn | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | learn | present · do-support | the actor | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
He got the part
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 got | nsubj |
| 2 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 part | det |
| 4 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 got | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | get | past | He | the part | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer part=Stimulus |
Option 2
He must travel abroad
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 travel | nsubj |
| 2 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 3 travel | aux |
| 3 | travel | travel | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 4 | abroad | abroad | ADV | _ | 3 travel | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | travel | must | He | abroad property | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Option 3
The film is set on a road trip
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 film | det |
| 2 | film | film | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 set | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 set | aux:pass |
| 4 | set | set | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | on | on | ADP | _ | 8 trip | case |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 trip | det |
| 7 | road | road | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 trip | compound |
| 8 | trip | trip | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 set | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | set | present · passive | the film | a road trip | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme on trip=Destination |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
He did not get the part
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 get | nsubj |
| 2 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 get | aux |
| 3 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 4 get | advmod |
| 4 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 part | det |
| 6 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 get | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not get | past · do-support | He | the part | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer part=Stimulus |
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/34-failure-and-mistakes/t9/