---
title: A teacher tells a parent, "Josh has made some progress in reading."… — Soft words for hard things: school rep… · tree and pragmatics
description: A teacher tells a parent, "Josh has made some progress in reading." The parent frowns. Why? Test 9 · ★ 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 and of each option;
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A teacher tells a parent, "Josh has made some progress in reading." The parent frowns. Why?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** teacher, parent · **What happens:** tell, make, frown · **To what, where:** parent, Josh · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A teacher tells a parent, "Josh has made some progress in reading."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t9:1
# text = A teacher tells a parent, "Josh has made some progress in reading."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	parent	parent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Josh	Josh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
11	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
12	progress	progress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	reading	reading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | a teacher |  | a parent |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Agent parent=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **make** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | Josh |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary progress=Product |

<!-- .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:* The parent frowns.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t9:2
# text = The parent frowns.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	parent	parent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	frowns	frown	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|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 | **frown** | present | the parent |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* Why?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t9:3
# text = Why?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means Josh needs glasses

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t9:o1:1
# text = It means Josh needs glasses
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Josh	Josh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	glasses	glass	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **need** | present | Josh | glasses |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot glass=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means Josh skipped reading

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t9:o2:1
# text = It means Josh skipped reading
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Josh	Josh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	skipped	skip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	reading	reading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **skip** | past | Josh | reading |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reading=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It often means very little progress

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t9:o3:1
# text = It often means very little progress
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	often	often	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	progress	progress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means Josh is top of the class

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:16-school-reports:t9:o4:1
# text = It means Josh is top of the class
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Josh	Josh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	class	class	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | Josh top |  |  |  | of the class | tree rules |

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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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