---
title: A milk carton says "expired 3 May". What is the difference from "the… — Soft words for hard things: death and… · tree and pragmatics
description: A milk carton says "expired 3 May". What is the difference from "the patient expired"? Test 10 · ★ 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 option; Mova's choice wa
---

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# Test 10 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: death and dying

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A milk carton says "expired 3 May". What is the difference from "the patient expired"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** milk carton · **What happens:** say, expire, be · **To what, where:** difference, expired · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 2 «Soft words for hard things: death and dying» 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/2-death-official-and-slang/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A milk carton says "expired 3 May".

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:2-death-official-and-slang:t10:1
# text = A milk carton says "expired 3 May".
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	carton	carton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	expired	expire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
7	3	3	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	May	May	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a milk carton |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **expire** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  |  | may |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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 is the difference from "the patient expired"?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:2-death-official-and-slang:t10:2
# text = What is the difference from "the patient expired"?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	difference	difference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	patient	patient	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	expired	expired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the difference |  | expired |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The milk went off, but the patient died

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:2-death-official-and-slang:t10:o1:1
# text = The milk went off, but the patient died
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	patient	patient	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go off** | past | the milk |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **die** | past | the patient |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The milk died, but the patient went off

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:2-death-official-and-slang:t10:o2:1
# text = The milk died, but the patient went off
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	patient	patient	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	off	off	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | past | the milk |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **go off** | past | the patient |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both mean something went off

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:2-death-official-and-slang:t10:o3:1
# text = Both mean something went off
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	nsubj	_	_
2	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	nsubj	_	_
4	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	off	off	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Both |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go off** | past | something |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both mean something died

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:2-death-official-and-slang:t10:o4:1
# text = Both mean something died
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	nsubj	_	_
2	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	nsubj	_	_
4	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Both |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **die** | past | something |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/t9/)
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