---
title: An old novel: "Mrs Bennet's sister was a stout, cheerful woman." Wha… — Soft words for hard things: weight and… · tree and pragmatics
description: An old novel: "Mrs Bennet's sister was a stout, cheerful woman." What does "stout" say? Test 6 of lesson 10 «Soft words for hard things: weight and pregnancy and birth» 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 6 · Soft words for hard things: weight and pregnancy and birth

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An old novel: "Mrs Bennet's sister was a stout, cheerful woman." What does "stout" say?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** sister, stout · **What happens:** be, say · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 10 «Soft words for hard things: weight and pregnancy and birth» 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/10-weight-and-babies/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* An old novel: "Mrs Bennet's sister was a stout, cheerful woman."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:10-weight-and-babies:t6:1
# text = An old novel: "Mrs Bennet's sister was a stout, cheerful woman."
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	novel	novel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Mrs	Mrs	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	_
7	Bennet	Bennet	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
9	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	stout	stout	ADJ	NN	Degree=Pos	3	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	cheerful	cheerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | past | Mrs's sister |  |  |  |  | stout *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 does "stout" say?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:10-weight-and-babies:t6:2
# text = What does "stout" say?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	stout	stout	ADJ	NN	Degree=Pos	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | stout |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was fat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:10-weight-and-babies:t6:o1:1
# text = She was fat
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	fat	fat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | She |  |  |  |  | fat *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was brave

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:10-weight-and-babies:t6:o2:1
# text = She was brave
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | She |  |  |  |  | brave *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was tall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:10-weight-and-babies:t6:o3:1
# text = She was tall
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | She |  |  |  |  | tall *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was cross

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:10-weight-and-babies:t6:o4:1
# text = She was cross
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	cross	cross	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | She |  |  |  |  | cross *property* | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: weight and…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/10-weight-and-babies/t5/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: weight and…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/10-weight-and-babies/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: weight and pregnancy and birth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/10-weight-and-babies/)