---
title: Ascertain the plain meaning of "black site" as employed in reports c… — Soft words for hard things: politics a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the plain meaning of "black site" as employed in reports concerning the detention of prisoners. Exam question 4 of lesson 25 «Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin and war, the military and violence» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the plain meaning of "black site" as employed in reports concerning the detention of prisoners.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, reports · **What happens:** ascertain, employ, concern, mean, detain · **To what, where:** plain meaning, reports, detention, black site, prisoners

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 25 «Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin and war, the military and violence» 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/25-spin-war-and-violence/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the plain meaning of "black site" as employed in reports concerning the detention of prisoners.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	plain	plain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	site	site	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	advcl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	reports	report	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
14	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	detention	detention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	prisoners	prisoner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the plain meaning of black site |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic |
| 2 | **employ** | participle | you *not said here* |  |  | reports |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **concern** | gerund | reports *not said here* | the detention of prisoners |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus detention=Experiencer |
| 4 | **mean** |  |  | black site |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 5 | **detain** |  |  | prisoners |  |  |  |  | nom detention «state transitive»: of=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A disused coal mine

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:e4:o1:1
# text = A disused coal mine
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	disused	disuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	amod	_	_
3	coal	coal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	mine	mine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A website of dark design

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:e4:o2:1
# text = A website of dark design
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	website	website	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	design	design	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A secret prison

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:e4:o3:1
# text = A secret prison
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	prison	prison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A building destroyed by fire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:e4:o4:1
# text = A building destroyed by fire
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	building	building	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	destroyed	destroy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **destroy** | participle |  | a building *not said here* |  |  |  | by fire | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/e3/)
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