---
title: Determine which of the following expressions denotes death in the hu… — Soft words for hard things: death and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Determine which of the following expressions denotes death in the humorous register of British English. Exam question 4 of lesson 2 «Soft words for hard things: death and dying» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opt
---

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# Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: death and dying

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Determine which of the following expressions denotes death in the humorous register of British English.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, British English · **What happens:** determine, follow, denote, register · **To what, where:** death, humorous register

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 2 «Soft words for hard things: death and dying» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/2-death-official-and-slang/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:2-death-official-and-slang:e4:1
# text = Determine which of the following expressions denotes death in the humorous register of British English.
1	Determine	determine	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	obj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	amod	_	_
6	expressions	expression	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
7	denotes	denote	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
8	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	humorous	humorous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	register	register	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **determine** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **denote** | present | you *not said here* | death |  | the humorous register of British English |  | of the following expressions | tree rules |
| 4 | **register** |  | British English |  |  |  |  |  | nom register «communication intransitive»: of=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Popped his clogs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:2-death-official-and-slang:e4:o1:1
# text = Popped his clogs
1	Popped	pop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	clogs	clog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pop** | past |  | his clogs |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clog=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Carked it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:2-death-official-and-slang:e4:o2:1
# text = Carked it
1	Carked	cark	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cark** | past |  | it |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Called home

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:2-death-official-and-slang:e4:o3:1
# text = Called home
1	Called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | participle |  | home |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Negative patient outcome

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:2-death-official-and-slang:e4:o4:1
# text = Negative patient outcome
1	Negative	negative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
2	patient	patient	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	outcome	outcome	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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: death and…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/e3/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: death and…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/3-death-and-feeling-poorly/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: death and dying](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/)