---
title: Divorce announcement: "Citing irreconcilable differences, the couple… — Soft words for hard things: relations… · tree and pragmatics
description: Divorce announcement: "Citing irreconcilable differences, the couple will divorce." Why are they divorcing? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 13 «Soft words for hard things: relations and family» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of eac
---

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# Test 1 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: relations and family

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Divorce announcement: "Citing irreconcilable differences, the couple will divorce." Why are they divorcing?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** couple, differences · **What happens:** cite, divorce

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 13 «Soft words for hard things: 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/13-relations-and-family/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Divorce announcement: "Citing irreconcilable differences, the couple will divorce."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:13-relations-and-family:t1:1
# text = Divorce announcement: "Citing irreconcilable differences, the couple will divorce."
1	Divorce	divorce	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	announcement	announcement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Citing	cite	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	amod	_	_
6	irreconcilable	irreconcilable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	differences	difference	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	couple	couple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	divorce	divorce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cite** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **divorce** *in a quote* | future | the couple |  |  |  |  |  | vn marry-36.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:* Why are they divorcing?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:13-relations-and-family:t1:2
# text = Why are they divorcing?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	divorcing	divorce	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **divorce** | present · progressive | differences *= difference* |  |  |  |  |  | vn marry-36.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They say they can no longer get on

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:13-relations-and-family:t1:o1:1
# text = They say they can no longer get on
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	no	no	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	7	advmod	_	_
7	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
8	on	on	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **get on** | can | they |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They have different jobs in different towns

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:13-relations-and-family:t1:o2:1
# text = They have different jobs in different towns
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	jobs	job	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	towns	town	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | They | different jobs |  | different towns |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent job=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are moving countries

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:13-relations-and-family:t1:o3:1
# text = They are moving countries
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	moving	move	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	countries	country	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | present · progressive | They | countries |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent country=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They want to save money

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:13-relations-and-family:t1:o4:1
# text = They want to save money
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **save** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | They *not said here* | money |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=Theme |

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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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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: pregnancy…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/12-birth-and-couples/e4/)
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