---
title: A leaked email says: "Today is a good day to bury bad news." What is… — Soft words for hard things: politics a… · tree and pragmatics
description: A leaked email says: "Today is a good day to bury bad news." What is the writer planning? Test 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 tree and pragmatics o
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A leaked email says: "Today is a good day to bury bad news." What is the writer planning?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** leaked email, Today, writer planning · **What happens:** leak, say, be, bury · **To what, where:** good day, bad news · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 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. 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A leaked email says: "Today is a good day to bury bad news."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t4:1
# text = A leaked email says: "Today is a good day to bury bad news."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	leaked	leak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	email	email	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	bury	bury	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	acl	_	_
14	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leak** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a leaked email |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | Today | a good day |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **bury** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | a leaked email *not said here* | bad news |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent news=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:* What is the writer planning?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t4:2
# text = What is the writer planning?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	writer	writer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	planning	planning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the writer planning |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To cancel the news

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t4:o1:1
# text = To cancel the news
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	cancel	cancel	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To hold a funeral for an old friend from work

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t4:o2:1
# text = To hold a funeral for an old friend from work
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hold	hold	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	funeral	funeral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | to-infinitive |  | a funeral |  | work |  | for a old friend | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent funeral=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To release bad news when nobody will notice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t4:o3:1
# text = To release bad news when nobody will notice
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	release	release	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
6	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	nsubj	_	_
7	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	notice	notice	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **release** | to-infinitive |  | bad news |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer news=Source |
| 2 | **notice** | future | nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To bury a time capsule

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t4:o4:1
# text = To bury a time capsule
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	bury	bury	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	capsule	capsule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bury** | to-infinitive |  | a time capsule |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent capsule=Theme |

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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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/t3/)
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- ↑ 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/)