---
title: In a western: "Three outlaws bit the dust in the shootout." What hap… — Soft words for hard things: death and… · tree and pragmatics
description: In a western: "Three outlaws bit the dust in the shootout." What happened? Test 7 · ★ 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 wrong.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/t7/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/) / [Soft words for hard things: death and…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/) / t7

# Test 7 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: death and dying

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a western: "Three outlaws bit the dust in the shootout." What happened?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Three outlaws · **What happens:** bite, happen · **To what, where:** dust, shootout

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a western: "Three outlaws bit the dust in the shootout."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t7:1
# text = In a western: "Three outlaws bit the dust in the shootout."
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	western	western	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	outlaws	outlaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	bit	bite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	shootout	shootout	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bite** *in a quote* | past | Three outlaws | the dust |  | the shootout |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent dust=Patient in shootout=Location |

<!-- .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?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t7:2
# text = What happened?
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	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They ate dinner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t7:o1:1
# text = They ate dinner
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past | They | dinner |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinner=Patient |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Three outlaws were killed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t7:o2:1
# text = Three outlaws were killed
1	Three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	outlaws	outlaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Three outlaws ran into the desert

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t7:o3:1
# text = Three outlaws ran into the desert
1	Three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	outlaws	outlaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | past | Three outlaws |  |  |  |  | into the desert *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into desert=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Three outlaws fell off horses

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:1-death-polite-and-joking:t7:o4:1
# text = Three outlaws fell off horses
1	Three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	outlaws	outlaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall off** | past | Three outlaws | horses |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: death and…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/t6/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: death and…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/t8/)
- ↑ 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/)