Test 7 · Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions
Mid-meeting the boss mutters "Back in five, gotta see a man about a dog." Is anyone getting a dog?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Mid-meeting · What happens: mutter, see, be, get · To what, where: five, man, anyone, dog · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 7 of lesson 6 «Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions» 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: Mid-meeting the boss mutters "Back in five, gotta see a man about a dog."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mid-meeting | Mid-meeting | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 mutters | nsubj |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 boss | det |
| 3 | boss | boss | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 mutters | nsubj |
| 4 | mutters | mutter | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 Back | punct |
| 6 | Back | back | ADV | _ | 4 mutters | advmod |
| 7 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 five | case |
| 8 | five | five | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 4 mutters | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 see | punct |
| 10 | gotta | gotta | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 see | compound |
| 11 | see | see | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 4 mutters | parataxis |
| 12 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 man | det |
| 13 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 see | obj |
| 14 | about | about | ADP | _ | 16 dog | case |
| 15 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 dog | det |
| 16 | dog | dog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 man | nmod |
| 17 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 11 see | punct |
| 18 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 see | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mutter speech: assert | present | Mid-meeting | five | vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | see in a quote | infinitive | a man | about a dog | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=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: Is anyone getting a dog?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 anyone | cop |
| 2 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 3 getting | csubj |
| 3 | getting | get | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 dog | det |
| 5 | dog | dog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 getting | obj |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 getting | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | anyone | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | get | gerund | a dog | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer dog=Stimulus |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Yes, he is buying a puppy
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | yes | INTJ | Polarity=Pos | 5 buying | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Yes | punct |
| 3 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 buying | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 buying | aux |
| 5 | buying | buy | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 puppy | det |
| 7 | puppy | puppy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 buying | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | buy | present · progressive | he | a puppy | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent puppy=Theme |
Option 2
No, he is phoning the vet
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | no | INTJ | Polarity=Neg | 5 phoning | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 No | punct |
| 3 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 phoning | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 phoning | aux |
| 5 | phoning | phone | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 vet | det |
| 7 | vet | vet | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 phoning | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | phone | present · progressive | he | the vet | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent vet=Recipient |
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
No, he is going to the toilet
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | no | INTJ | Polarity=Neg | 5 going | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 No | punct |
| 3 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 going | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 going | aux |
| 5 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 8 toilet | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 toilet | det |
| 8 | toilet | toilet | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 going | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | present · progressive | he | the toilet | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to toilet=Initial_Location |
Option 4
Yes, a dog is coming to the office
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | yes | INTJ | Polarity=Pos | 6 coming | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Yes | punct |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 dog | det |
| 4 | dog | dog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 coming | nsubj |
| 5 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 coming | aux |
| 6 | coming | come | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 7 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 office | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 office | det |
| 9 | office | office | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 coming | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come | present · progressive | a dog | the office | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to office=Initial_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/6-toilet-words/t7/