---
title: Mum whispers: "Don't ask Auntie about the baby, she lost it." What r… — Soft words for hard things: pregnancy… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mum whispers: "Don't ask Auntie about the baby, she lost it." What really happened? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 11 «Soft words for hard things: 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's choice w
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/t6/)

<!-- 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: pregnancy…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/) / t6

# Test 6 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mum whispers: "Don't ask Auntie about the baby, she lost it." What really happened?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Mum · **What happens:** whisper, not ask, lose, happen · **To what, where:** Auntie, baby · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 11 «Soft words for hard things: 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/11-pregnancy-and-birth/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Mum whispers: "Don't ask Auntie about the baby, she lost it."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:11-pregnancy-and-birth:t6:1
# text = Mum whispers: "Don't ask Auntie about the baby, she lost it."
1	Mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	whispers	whisper	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
8	Auntie	Auntie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	about	about	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | present | Mum |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | infinitive · do-support |  |  | Auntie |  |  | about the baby | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent auntie=Recipient about baby=Topic |
| 3 | **lose** *in a quote* | past | Mum | baby |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 really happened?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:11-pregnancy-and-birth:t6:2
# text = What really happened?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	really	really	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Auntie forgot the baby at home on her own

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:11-pregnancy-and-birth:t6:o1:1
# text = Auntie forgot the baby at home on her own
1	Auntie	auntie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	forgot	forget	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forget** | past | Auntie | the baby |  | home |  | on Auntie's own | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The baby wandered off

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:11-pregnancy-and-birth:t6:o2:1
# text = The baby wandered off
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wandered	wander	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wander off** | past | the baby |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Auntie gave the baby away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:11-pregnancy-and-birth:t6:o3:1
# text = Auntie gave the baby away
1	Auntie	Auntie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give away** | past | Auntie | the baby |  |  |  | away *property* | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent baby=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Auntie's pregnancy ended and the baby died

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:11-pregnancy-and-birth:t6:o4:1
# text = Auntie's pregnancy ended and the baby died
1	Auntie	Auntie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	pregnancy	pregnancy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	ended	end	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end** | past | Auntie's pregnancy |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **die** | past | the baby |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «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: pregnancy…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/t5/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: pregnancy…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/)