---
title: A US pilot story: "Two of his friends bought the farm over the sea."… — Soft words for hard things: death and… · tree and pragmatics
description: A US pilot story: "Two of his friends bought the farm over the sea." What happened to his friends? Test 12 · ★ of lesson 1 «Soft words for hard things: death and dying» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova
---

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# Test 12 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: death and dying

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A US pilot story: "Two of his friends bought the farm over the sea." What happened to his friends?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** US pilot story · **What happens:** buy, happen · **To what, where:** farm, sea

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 1 «Soft words for hard things: death and dying» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/#t12).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A US pilot story: "Two of his friends bought the farm over the sea."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t12:1
# text = A US pilot story: "Two of his friends bought the farm over the sea."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	US	US	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
3	pilot	pilot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	appos	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
11	bought	buy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	over	over	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** *in a quote* | past | a US pilot story | the farm |  | the sea |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent farm=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What happened to his friends?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t12:2
# text = What happened to his friends?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  |  | to story's friends | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They bought farms by the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t12:o1:1
# text = They bought farms by the sea
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	bought	buy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	farms	farm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | past | They | farms |  |  |  | by the sea | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent farm=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They moved to the country

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t12:o2:1
# text = They moved to the country
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	moved	move	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | past | They |  |  | the country |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to country=Trajectory |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were killed over the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t12:o3:1
# text = They were killed over the sea
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	over	over	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** | past · passive |  | They |  | the sea |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They landed on a farm safely

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t12:o4:1
# text = They landed on a farm safely
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	landed	land	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	safely	safely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **land** | past | They |  |  | a farm |  | safely *property* | vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme on farm=Destination |

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**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.

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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: death and…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/t11/)
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- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: death and dying](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/)