---
title: A spokesman says: "We are reviewing our options." What has the gover… — Soft words for hard things: politics a… · tree and pragmatics
description: A spokesman says: "We are reviewing our options." What has the government decided? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 24 «Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's 
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A spokesman says: "We are reviewing our options." What has the government decided?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** spokesman, We, our, government · **What happens:** say, review, opt, have, decide · **To what, where:** options · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 24 «Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin» 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/24-government-spin/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A spokesman says: "We are reviewing our options."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t6:1
# text = A spokesman says: "We are reviewing our options."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	spokesman	spokesman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	reviewing	review	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
9	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	options	option	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a spokesman |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **review** *in a quote* | present · progressive | We | our options |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent option=Theme |
| 3 | **opt** *in a quote* |  | our |  |  |  |  |  | nom option «possession transitive»: poss=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 has the government decided?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t6:2
# text = What has the government decided?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	government	government	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	decided	decide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **decide** | past | the government |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing yet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t6:o1:1
# text = Nothing yet
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
2	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To resign

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t6:o2:1
# text = To resign
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	resign	resign	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **resign** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To go to war

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t6:o3:1
# text = To go to war
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | war |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to war=Initial\_Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To cut taxes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t6:o4:1
# text = To cut taxes
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	cut	cut	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	taxes	tax	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | to-infinitive |  | taxes |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset tax=Product |

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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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