---
title: Mia: "my goldfish croaked lol, flushing him tonight." Is Mia sad abo… — Soft words for hard things: death and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mia: "my goldfish croaked lol, flushing him tonight." Is Mia sad about a real person? Test 2 · ★ 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's choice was 
---

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# Test 2 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: death and dying

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mia: "my goldfish croaked lol, flushing him tonight." Is Mia sad about a real person?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mia · **What happens:** croak, flush, be · **To what, where:** Mia, goldfish

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This is test 2 · ★ 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/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Mia: "my goldfish croaked lol, flushing him tonight."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t2:1
# text = Mia: "my goldfish croaked lol, flushing him tonight."
1	Mia	Mia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	croaked	croak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	flushing	flush	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	tonight	tonight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **croak** *in a quote* | participle · passive |  | Mia |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **flush** *in a quote* | gerund |  | goldfish |  |  | tonight |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent he=Source |

<!-- .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:* Is Mia sad about a real person?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t2:2
# text = Is Mia sad about a real person?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	Mia	Mia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Mia |  |  |  |  | about a real person; sad *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, a person in her family died

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t2:o1:1
# text = Yes, a person in her family died
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | past | a person in person's family |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, her fish is sick but alive

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t2:o2:1
# text = Yes, her fish is sick but alive
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | her fish |  |  |  |  | sick *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | her fish *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, her fish is making noises

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t2:o3:1
# text = No, her fish is making noises
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	noises	noise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · progressive | her fish | noises |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent noise=Product |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, she is joking roughly about her dead fish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t2:o4:1
# text = No, she is joking roughly about her dead fish
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	joking	joke	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	roughly	roughly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
9	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **joke** *speech: other* | present · progressive | she |  |  |  |  | about her dead fish; roughly *property* | vn chit\_chat-37.6 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about fish=Topic |

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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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