---
title: Report: "Police were called to disturbances in the city centre." Wha… — Soft words for hard things: politics a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Report: "Police were called to disturbances in the city centre." What happened? Test 5 · ★ 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 ques
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Report: "Police were called to disturbances in the city centre." What happened?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Report · **What happens:** call, happen · **To what, where:** Police, disturbances, city centre · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ 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/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Report: "Police were called to disturbances in the city centre."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t5:1
# text = Report: "Police were called to disturbances in the city centre."
1	Report	report	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	Police	police	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	disturbances	disturbance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	centre	centre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** *in a quote* | past · passive | Report *not said here* | Police | disturbances | the city centre |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to disturbance=Recipient |

<!-- .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 happened?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t5:2
# text = What happened?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was loud music

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t5:o1:1
# text = There was loud music
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	music	music	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | loud music |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was raining

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t5:o2:1
# text = It was raining
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	raining	rain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rain** | past · progressive | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn weather-57 «It V PP.theme» |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There were riots

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t5:o3:1
# text = There were riots
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	riots	riot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | riots |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was a traffic jam

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:25-spin-war-and-violence:t5:o4:1
# text = There was a traffic jam
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	traffic	traffic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	jam	jam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a traffic jam |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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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