---
title: The campaign's "messaging" was criticised. What was criticised? — Soft words for hard things: politics a… · tree and pragmatics
description: The campaign's "messaging" was criticised. What was criticised? Test 10 · ★ 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 tree and pragmatics of the question and of eac
---

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# Test 10 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The campaign's "messaging" was criticised. What was criticised?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** criticise · **To what, where:** messaging

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This is test 10 · ★ 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. 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/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The campaign's "messaging" was criticised.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t10:1
# text = The campaign's "messaging" was criticised.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	campaign	campaign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	messaging	messaging	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	criticised	criticise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **criticise** | past · passive |  | the campaign's messaging |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 was criticised?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t10:2
# text = What was criticised?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	criticised	criticise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its post office

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t10:o1:1
# text = Its post office
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	post	post	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	office	office	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its spin or propaganda

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t10:o2:1
# text = Its spin or propaganda
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	spin	spin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	propaganda	propaganda	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spin** |  | Its *= it* |  |  |  |  |  | nom spin «event transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its text messages

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t10:o3:1
# text = Its text messages
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	messages	message	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its phone bills

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t10:o4:1
# text = Its phone bills
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	phone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	bills	bill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bill** |  | Its *= it* |  |  |  |  |  | nom bill «communication transitive»: poss=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…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/t9/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: politics a…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/t11/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin and war, the military and violence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/)