---
title: The leaders held "constructive talks". Did they reach agreement? — Soft words for hard things: politics a… · tree and pragmatics
description: The leaders held "constructive talks". Did they reach agreement? Test 7 · ★ 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 choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The leaders held "constructive talks". Did they reach agreement?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** leaders · **What happens:** hold, reach · **To what, where:** constructive talks, agreement

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The leaders held "constructive talks".

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t7:1
# text = The leaders held "constructive talks".
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	leaders	leader	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	constructive	constructive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	talks	talk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | past | the leaders | constructive talks |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent talk=Theme |

<!-- .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:* Did they reach agreement?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t7:2
# text = Did they reach agreement?
1	Did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	agreement	agreement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past · do-support | leaders *= leader* | agreement |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent agreement=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, they never met

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t7:o1:1
# text = No, they never met
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **meet** | past | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, they signed a treaty

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t7:o2:1
# text = Yes, they signed a treaty
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	signed	sign	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	treaty	treaty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sign** | past | they | a treaty |  |  |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent treaty=Destination |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Probably not

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t7:o3:1
# text = Probably not
1	Probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, on every point

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:24-government-spin:t7:o4:1
# text = Yes, on every point
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	point	point	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: politics a…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/24-government-spin/t6/)
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