---
title: School psychologist: "Since his dad left, Toby has been acting out i… — Soft words for hard things: children's… · tree and pragmatics
description: School psychologist: "Since his dad left, Toby has been acting out in class." What does it mean? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 15 «Soft words for hard things: children's behaviour and school reports and teachers» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of th
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: children's behaviour and schoo…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
School psychologist: "Since his dad left, Toby has been acting out in class." What does it mean?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** dad, Toby, psychologist · **What happens:** leave, act out, mean · **To what, where:** School psychologist, class

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 15 «Soft words for hard things: children's behaviour and school reports and teachers» 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/15-behaviour-and-school-reports/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* School psychologist: "Since his dad left, Toby has been acting out in class."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:15-behaviour-and-school-reports:t9:1
# text = School psychologist: "Since his dad left, Toby has been acting out in class."
1	School	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	psychologist	psychologist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	Toby	Toby	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
11	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	aux	_	_
13	acting	act	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
14	out	out	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	class	class	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** *in a quote* | past | his dad | School psychologist *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent psychologist=Theme |
| 2 | **act out** *in a quote* | present · perfect · progressive | Toby |  |  | class |  |  | vn act-114-1-1 «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:* What does it mean?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:15-behaviour-and-school-reports:t9:2
# text = What does it mean?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present · do-support | psychologist |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Toby is often absent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:15-behaviour-and-school-reports:t9:o1:1
# text = Toby is often absent
1	Toby	Toby	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	often	often	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	absent	absent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Toby |  |  |  |  | absent, often *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Toby acts very well

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:15-behaviour-and-school-reports:t9:o2:1
# text = Toby acts very well
1	Toby	Toby	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	acts	act	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **act** | present | Toby |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Toby misbehaves because he is upset

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:15-behaviour-and-school-reports:t9:o3:1
# text = Toby misbehaves because he is upset
1	Toby	Toby	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	misbehaves	misbehave	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	upset	upset	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **misbehave** | present | Toby |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | Toby |  |  |  |  | upset *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Toby has a part in the school play

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:15-behaviour-and-school-reports:t9:o4:1
# text = Toby has a part in the school play
1	Toby	Toby	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	play	play	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Toby | a part |  | the school play |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent part=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: children's…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/15-behaviour-and-school-reports/t8/)
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