--- title: A government spokesman: "The minister's earlier statement is now ino… — Soft words for hard things: politics a… · tree and pragmatics description: A government spokesman: "The minister's earlier statement is now inoperative." What does this admit? Test 3 · ★ 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 p --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/t3/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/) / [Soft words for hard things: politics a…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/) / t3 # Test 3 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin a… A government spokesman: "The minister's earlier statement is now inoperative." What does this admit? **Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** government spokesman, minister, this · **What happens:** be, state, admit This is test 3 · ★ 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/#t3). ## The question {#question} *Sentence 1:* A government spokesman: "The minister's earlier statement is now inoperative." ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t3:1 # text = A government spokesman: "The minister's earlier statement is now inoperative." 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 government government NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 compound _ _ 3 spokesman spokesman NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj:outer _ SpaceAfter=No 4 : : PUNCT : _ 13 punct _ _ 5 " " PUNCT `` _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 minister minister NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 8 's 's PART POS _ 7 case _ _ 9 earlier early ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 10 amod _ _ 10 statement statement NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ _ 11 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 13 cop _ _ 12 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 13 advmod _ _ 13 inoperative inoperative ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 14 . . PUNCT . _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 " " PUNCT '' _ 13 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | a government spokesman | | | | now | inoperative *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **state** *in a quote* | | the minister | | | | | | nom statement «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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. *Sentence 2:* What does this admit? ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t3:2 # text = What does this admit? 1 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 4 obj _ _ 2 does do AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 3 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 4 nsubj _ _ 4 admit admit VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 ? ? PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **admit** *speech: other* | present · do-support | this | | | | | | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme | ## The options {#options} ### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1} The statement was too long ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t3:o1:1 # text = The statement was too long 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 statement statement NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 too too ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 5 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the statement | | | | | long *property* | tree rules | ### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2} The earlier statement was false ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t3:o2:1 # text = The earlier statement was false 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 earlier early ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 3 amod _ _ 3 statement statement NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 4 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 5 false false ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the earlier statement | | | | | false *property* | tree rules | ### Option 3 {#o3} The minister's microphone broke ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t3:o3:1 # text = The minister's microphone broke 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 minister minister NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 3 's 's PART POS _ 2 case _ _ 4 microphone microphone NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 broke break VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **break** | past | the minister's microphone | | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | ### Option 4 {#o4} The minister has left ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t3:o4:1 # text = The minister has left 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 minister minister NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj:pass _ _ 3 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 left leave VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **leave** | present · perfect · passive | | the minister | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | **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. - ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: politics a…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/t2/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: politics a…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/t4/) - ↑ 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/)