---
title: Old novel: "In the small hours, her time came, and the midwife was s… — Soft words for hard things: pregnancy… · tree and pragmatics
description: Old novel: "In the small hours, her time came, and the midwife was sent for." What was happening? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 12 «Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth and relations and family» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the ques
---

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# Test 10 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth and relati…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Old novel: "In the small hours, her time came, and the midwife was sent for." What was happening?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** time · **What happens:** come, send, happen · **To what, where:** midwife

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 12 «Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth and relations and family» 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/12-birth-and-couples/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Old novel: "In the small hours, her time came, and the midwife was sent for."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:12-birth-and-couples:t10:1
# text = Old novel: "In the small hours, her time came, and the midwife was sent for."
1	Old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	novel	novel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	In	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	midwife	midwife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	parataxis	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** *in a quote* | past | her time |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **send** *in a quote* | past · passive |  | the midwife |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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 was happening?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:12-birth-and-couples:t10:2
# text = What was happening?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happening	happen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	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 · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was late for her work at the shop

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:12-birth-and-couples:t10:o1:1
# text = She was late for her work at the shop
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	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	shop	shop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | She |  |  |  |  | for her work at the shop; late *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **work** |  | her *= she* |  |  | the shop |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent at=place |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was starting to give birth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:12-birth-and-couples:t10:o2:1
# text = She was starting to give birth
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	aux	_	_
3	starting	start	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | past · progressive | She |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **give** | to-infinitive | She *not said here* | birth |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent birth=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

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

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:12-birth-and-couples:t10:o3:1
# text = She was dying
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	aux	_	_
3	dying	die	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was waking up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:12-birth-and-couples:t10:o4:1
# text = She was waking up
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	aux	_	_
3	waking	wake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wake up** | past · progressive | She |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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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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<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: pregnancy…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/12-birth-and-couples/t9/)
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