---
title: "she says he 'finds it hard to stay on task' — what task, he never e… — Soft words for hard things: school rep… · tree and pragmatics
description: "she says he 'finds it hard to stay on task' — what task, he never even starts" — what is the report saying? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 16 «Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question an
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"she says he 'finds it hard to stay on task' — what task, he never even starts" — what is the report saying?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** she, he, task, report · **What happens:** say, find, stay, not start, be · **To what, where:** it, task, report · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 16 «Soft words for hard things: 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/16-school-reports/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t8:1
# text = "she says he 'finds it hard to stay on task' — what task, he never even starts" — what is the report saying?
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	finds	find	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
14	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	parataxis	_	_
16	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
20	even	even	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	starts	start	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	21	punct	_	_
23	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
24	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	27	nsubj	_	_
25	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	report	report	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
28	saying	say	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	27	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | she |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **find** *in a quote* | present | he | it |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 3 | **stay** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  | task |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on task=Location |
| 4 | **not** **start** *in a quote* | present | task |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **is a** | present |  | the report |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the report *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He has too many tasks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t8:o1:1
# text = He has too many tasks
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	tasks	task	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He wastes time in class

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t8:o2:1
# text = He wastes time in class
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wastes	waste	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	class	class	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **waste** | present | He |  |  | class | time |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He cannot find his classroom

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t8:o3:1
# text = He cannot find his classroom
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	classroom	classroom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **find** | can | He | his classroom |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent classroom=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He finishes too early

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t8:o4:1
# text = He finishes too early
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	finishes	finish	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **finish** | present | He |  |  |  |  | early *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

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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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