Soft words for hard things: death and dying
Tests: 7 of 12 right · Exam: 4 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 3 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 2 of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗
News: "Two people were injured in the crash. One later succumbed in hospital." How many people died?
- 1. Two — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. None — no support
- 3. One — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Three — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · right ✓
Report: "The strike hit the bridge. Collateral damage was limited." What is the report trying not to say plainly?
- 1. That some ordinary people were hurt or killed — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. That the soldiers were tired — no support
- 3. That the weather was bad — no support
- 4. That the bridge was not hit — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · right ✓
Chatty: "Mate, the telly's given up the ghost again, I'm not paying for another." What is the speaker angry about?
- 1. The TV broke — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The TV showed a ghost film — no support
- 3. A ghost broke the TV — no support
- 4. It was stolen — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗
Liam says "the hospital said Gran had a negative outcome, so she's fine, right?" What is true?
- 1. No, it means she needs more tests — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Yes, it means she can go home — no support
- 3. No, it means she died — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Yes, a negative test means she is fine — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗
A tough guy in a film: "Touch my car again and you'll be sleeping with the fishes." What kind of remark is this?
- 1. A joke about a fish tank — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. An invitation to go fishing — no support
- 3. A promise of a holiday — no support
- 4. A threat to kill, in gangster slang — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · right ✓
Kate's mum says "Uncle Pat popped his clogs." Kate asks "did his shoes break?" What should Kate be told?
- 1. No, it means Uncle Pat died — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Yes, his clogs burst — no support
- 3. Yes, he needs new shoes — no support
- 4. No, it means he went dancing — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗
A doctor tells a family "I'm so sorry, she didn't make it." What should the family understand?
- 1. She missed her appointment — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. She has died — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. She failed her operation test — no support
- 4. She is asleep — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · right ✓
Gossip: "Old Mick finally carked it, the stubborn old goat." What do you learn?
- 1. Mick died, and the speaker is being rough about it — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Mick's goat died — no support
- 3. Mick is very ill — no support
- 4. Mick lost an argument — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗
Funeral leaflet: "Choose a coffin for your loved one." Who will lie in the coffin?
- 1. The child of the family — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The funeral director — no support
- 3. The dead person — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. The buyer — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · right ✓
A milk carton says "expired 3 May". What is the difference from "the patient expired"?
- 1. The milk went off, but the patient died — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The milk died, but the patient went off — no support
- 3. Both mean something went off — no support
- 4. Both mean something died — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★ · right ✓
A police statement: "The suspect was neutralized at the scene." Which plain sentence matches?
- 1. The police killed the suspect there — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The police arrested the suspect gently — no support
- 3. The suspect ran away — no support
- 4. The suspect gave up and sat down — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 12 · ★ · right ✓
"He went west in 1917," says Grandad about his own grandad, a soldier. Where is that soldier now?
- 1. He moved to America in 1917 — no support
- 2. He walked home in 1917 — no support
- 3. He lives in the west — no support
- 4. He died in 1917 — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
Why: It took the question to ask where. It chose option 4 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1, line 2: «Death is the thing people soften most: at a funeral nobody says "Grandad is dead", they say "Grandad passed away" or "he is no longer with us", to be kind to t…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «pass away» (+4); the same doer «grandad» (+4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the plain meaning of the term "collateral damage" as it appears in an official military communiqué.
- 1. The unintended killing of civilians or destruction of property — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Financial losses incurred by the armed forces — no support
- 3. Damage sustained by military vehicles in transit — no support
- 4. Injuries sustained by soldiers during training — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓
It is given that a hospital record states that a patient "expired". Ascertain what occurred.
- 1. The patient's registration lapsed — no support
- 2. The patient left — no support
- 3. The patient died — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. The patient exhaled deeply — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 2, line 8: «"Negative patient outcome" is American hospital jargon for "the patient died".», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «die» (+2); the same doer «patient» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓
Select the response that is consistent with the established meaning of "succumbed to his injuries" in a press report.
- 1. He died as a consequence of his injuries — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. He declined medical treatment for his injuries — no support
- 3. He recovered fully from his injuries — no support
- 4. He sustained further injuries — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
Determine which of the following expressions denotes death in the humorous register of British English.
- 1. Popped his clogs — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 2. Carked it — no support
- 3. Called home — no support
- 4. Negative patient outcome — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 2, line 16: «"Popped his clogs" means died; it is humorous British English.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «pop» (+2); the same thing acted on «clogs» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/